==  Plan to develop automatic package creation from PyPI ==
[[http://www.python.org/pypi|PyPI]]

Author: VincenzoDiMassa

=== Introduction ===

This wikipage describes the ongoing effort to develop an auto package builder for python modules.
The auto package builder will be able to create packages by:
 1. downloading the package distribuntion from [[http://www.python.org/pypi|PyPI]]
 2. downloading and building the package source distribuntion from [[http://www.python.org/pypi|PyPI]]
 3. using the setup.py of a modules's source distribution
<<BR>>
<<Anchor(Warining)>>
'''WARNING''': the structure of the created package will be compatible with the goals of PythonModulePackaging: a single package of each module will be installed and will work with all python implementaions ubuntu supports.

=== SetupTools ===

[[http://www.python.org/pypi/setuptools/|SetupTools]] can download a module from PyPI, create an egg (a sort of python callable package) and install it.<<BR>>
It requires a modificaion to the .pth file in site-packages to make the python eggs available on sys.path.<<BR>>
A python-egg can be considered as a directory containing a module and its packaging related files ( EGG-INFO/PKG-INFO ~= debian/control ).

=== Planned usage of Setuptools ===

Because Setuptools:
 1. can already download and install packages from PyPI
 2. is actively developed
 3. exists 
I think using them would be a good idea. (thanks Matthias)<<BR>>
My plan is:
 1. create a [[http://www.python.org/pypi/setuptools/|SetupTools]] updated debian package
 2. provide an [[#AddonModule|addon module]] that can generate an ubuntu package using SetupTools]
 3. [[#Warining|After step 2]] actually generate the pakage

<<Anchor(AddonModule)>>
==== Addon Module ====
The addon module will just be a script like easy_install.py which will create a python module debian package of the module specified as argument.<<BR>>
For example to create the debian package for the graph module:
{{{
$ easy_install_deb graph
$ ls 
...
...
graph_x.y.z-1_noarch.deb
...
...
$
}}}

== Problems ==
I'm actually understanding what requirements are unmet as of now:
 * ''Build Dependencies'' which are not python modules:
   * Big problem: dependencies should be read PyPI but must refer to something that can be converted into debian packages. <<BR>>
     We need a convension to refer to common depencies between debian/ubuntu/python. <<BR>>
     PyPI uses a ''first came wins'' policy for the external dependency specification.
   * '''I am Ignoring this problem''' since I can't find a solution {{{(gurun_meditation_mode(true); open_for_suggestions(true);)}}}