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When it comes to distributing source code, specially python code, I really wish there was a concise and detailed best practice guide for using distutils! Don’t get me wrong, the documentation is pretty good and covers a lot of ground, but what I really want is a standard “template” if you will, that python developers can take and do some minimal modifications to customize it to their needs.

For instance, and don’t ask me why as I don’t have a clue, Ubuntu seems to insist that data files should go to /usr/local/share whereas other distros expect them to live on /usr/share. It would be nice to have specific examples on how to handle situations like this, as well as how to properly handle gconf schema installation. This last one, as a matter of fact, was the main reason why I switched from distutils was my difficulty getting this to work 100%!

During my research I did come across a Distutils CookBook, but the few “recipes" don’t really show the whole picture. So in order to really understand how to use them, it felt like one has to first learn how to make galantines served chaud-froid!