Re: [gentoo-dev] New Python application with multiple new dependencies

[Ralph Seichter]

* Mike Gilbert:

> Speaking on behalf of the python team, we are not particularly keen on
> maintaining libraries that are only used by a single package. We have
> too many packages to care for already.

I agree. I know about the various risks of dynamically installing
dependencies, but "pip install X" in virtual environments is very useful
nonetheless. Gentoo does not offer an equivalent (I'm not judging, just
saying), and it seems to me that is causing the Python team a large
amount of work, eating up resources that could be spent elsewhere.

> Not everything needs to be handled in an ebuild; often it just
> increases the amount of busy work you end up doing.

Ebuilds are great when an application needs config files, init scripts,
users/groups, and when app A connects to app B (for example, if there is
a milter there will also be an MTA calling it).

Two of the milters I am using happen to be written in Python. One
requires pymilter, so I created a PR introducing a pymilter ebuild. I'd
rather avoid that ebuild, because pymilter is an interface to libmilter
and of little use of its own, but other apps depend on it.

-Ralph