Re: Complied into debs please (Python/Emacs packagers take note)

[Adam Olsen <rhamph@d2dc.net>]

On Sat, Feb 23, 2002 at 02:19:49PM +0000, Lazarus Long wrote:
> What is the point of pre-compiling C code before packaging it into
> .debs?  If you can answer that, apply that answer to Python code.

First off, in python the source IS the program.  Like perl, it
byte-compiles as an optimization at runtime.  But unlike perl, it has
the ability to cache the byte-compiled version to the disk to speed up
future runs.

So on one side you have plain source, without caching, which is slow
to startup.  On the other side you could do it like C, except that
requires downloading new versions every time you upgrade python, and
would probably only allow one version of python to be installed at
once.

And in the middle you have the current method, which only suffers from
the minor issues of the .py[co] files not being known to dpkg, and
taking slightly longer to install.  Compared to the alternatives, I
think it beats them hands down.


-- 
Adam Olsen, aka Rhamphoryncus