commit: 584384eae06f22ac44df188e374c3e4e272d7412
parent b911f13945f09e28d3b89715ae69b71aa6ffe44b
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:29:23 +0100
Python
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1 file changed, 81 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/blog/Python-stop-screwing-distros-over.md b/content/blog/Python-stop-screwing-distros-over.md
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+---
+title: "Python: Please stop screwing over Linux distros"
+date: 2021-11-16
+---
+
+> Linux distributions? Oh, those things we use to bootstrap our Docker
+> containers? Yeah, those are annoying. What were you complaining about again?
+
+The Python community is obsessed with reinventing the wheel, over and over and
+over and over and over and over again. distutils, setuptools, pip, pipenv, tox,
+flit, conda, poetry, virtualenv, requirements.txt, setup.py, setup.cfg,
+pyproject.toml... I honestly can't even list all of the things you have to deal
+with. It's a disaster.
+
+[](https://xkcd.com/1987/)
+
+This comic is almost 4 years old and it has become much worse since. Python is a
+mess. I really want to like Python. I have used it for many years and in many
+projects, including SourceHut, which was predominantly developed in Python. But
+I simply can't handle it anymore, and I have been hard at work removing Python
+from my stack.
+
+This has always been a problem with Python, but in the past few years everyone
+and their cousin decided to "solve" it by building another mess which is totally
+incompatible with all of the others, all of the "solutions" enjoying varying
+levels of success in the community and none of them blessed as the official
+answer.
+
+I manage my Python packages in the only way which I think is sane: installing
+them from my Linux distribution's package manager. I maintain a few dozen Python
+packages for Alpine Linux myself. It's from this perspective that, throughout
+all of this turmoil in Python's packaging world, I have found myself feeling
+especially put out.
+
+Every one of these package managers is designed for a reckless world in which
+programmers chuck packages wholesale into ~/.pip, set up virtualenvs and pin
+their dependencies to 10 versions and 6 vulnerabilities ago, and ship their
+computers directly into production in Docker containers which aim to do the
+minimum amount necessary to make their user's private data as insecure as
+possible.
+
+None of these newfangled solutions addresses the needs of any of the distros,
+despite our repeated pleas. They all break backwards compatibility with our
+use-case and send our complaints to /dev/null. I have seen representatives from
+every Linux distro making repeated, desperate pleas to Python to address their
+concerns, from Debian to Arch to Alpine to NixOS, plus non-Linux distros like
+FreeBSD and Illumos. Everyone is frustrated. We are all struggling to deal with
+Python right now, and Python is not listening to us.
+
+What is it about Linux distros that makes our use-case unimportant? Have we
+offered no value to Python over the past 30 years? Do you just feel that it's
+time to shrug off the "legacy" systems we represent and embrace the brave new
+world of serverless cloud-scale regulation-arbitrage move-fast-and-break-things
+culture of the techbro startup?
+
+Distros are feeling especially frustrated right now, but I don't think we're
+alone. Everyone is frustrated with Python packaging. I call on the PSF to sit
+down for some serious, sober engineering work to fix this problem. Draw up a
+list of the use-cases you need to support, pick the most promising initiative,
+and put in the hours to make it work properly, today and tomorrow. Design
+something you can stick with and make stable for the next 30 years. If you have
+to break some hearts, fine. Not all of these solutions can win. Right now,
+upstream neglect is destroying the Python ecosystem. The situation is grave, and
+we need strong upstream leadership right now.
+
+---
+
+P.S. PEP-517 and 518 are a start, but are very disappointing in how little they
+address distro problems. These PEPs are designed to tolerate the proliferation
+of build systems, which is exactly what needs to stop. Python ought to stop
+trying to avoid hurting anyone's feelings and pick one. Maybe their
+decision-making framework prevents this, if so, the framework needs to be
+changed.
+
+---
+
+P.P.S. There are a lot of relevant xkcds that I wanted to add. Here's the ones I
+left out:
+
+- https://xkcd.com/1988/
+- https://xkcd.com/927/
