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Re: python time module



Le nonidi 19 nivôse, an CCXXV, lists@rickv.com a écrit :
> re 1: It's not a bad thing to use a separate package manager for your
> Python projects if you're getting into development with Python.

Actually, it is a bad thing. Package managers specialized for one
language are convenient for the developers heavily involved in that
language, but for everybody else they are a terrible thing.

For one, they do not integrate with the system package manager and its
security updates. People usually remember to do the security updates,
but they never remember to update the programs installed separately, and
even more so the libraries that were installed automatically.

Second, and this is more insidious: by giving developers too much
control over the versions of the libraries, they lead them to be
careless with compatibility. That means they will easily depend on a
very bleeding-edge version of a library, or on an older one that is no
longer maintained for security. In both cases, it is very annoying for
the end users.

The language-specific package systems came to exist because of a flaw in
most distros: it is impossible to install specific packages as simple
users, nor without risking to break the whole system. But they are a bad
solution to a real problem.

Unfortunately, now they exist. And unfortunately, Debian still suffers
from the flaw. That means sometimes using the language-specific package
systems is unavoidable. But developers need to be aware of the issue to
try and mitigate its consequences. In particular, whenever possible,
they should use the libraries present as real packages in stable.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George

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