[PyKDE] Seperate Qscintilla from PyQt

[Jim Bublitz]

On 12-Dec-02 Ricardo Javier Cardenes Medina wrote:
> I'm even planning to split python-qt3 (which is a huge package)
> on several other packages, as not everyone need, say, qtgl, or
> qtsql.

I appreciate all of those doing packaging enough that I wouldn't
tell anyone what to do - this is just my opinion and nothing more.
I appreciate that PyQt is large and PyKDE is even larger, however
with the -c switch build times have become reasonable, and the
amount of HD space the full packages take is not that great.

My concern with splitting the packages is the possible creation of
dependency problems for third-party developers - eg those people
using PyQt of PyKDE to develop their packages. They should be able
to count on a basic integral PyQt or PyKDE when distributing
*their* packages. I'd prefer to avoid a situation similar to libc
(hypothetically) making the socket functions optional. An app like
eric may not have problems, but database apps (or even apps that
peripherally use databases) will certainly expect qtsql, and apps
that include 3D might expect qtgl. Similar dependencies might exist
with PyKDE.

I realize people can add the missing packages later if needed, but
it's just one more missing dependency to satisfy and might also
cause version problems, eg PyQt-3.3.2 installed without qtsql now
needs qtsql, but only PyQt-3.5 version is easily available.
Installing 3.5 might break user's PyQt-3.3.2 code for some obscure
reason. It may not be a realistic enough concern to worry about,
but it seems worth considering whether it's important or not.


Just my 2 cents.

Jim