Proposal to change how the module library is installed (distutils)

Archives Ansible Project
1

Very tempting.

I think I could consider a pull request to change this around for the
1.2 release if it doesn't cause any other hiccups.

2

Hi,

3

Hi,

I’ll reply to Michael’s comments from pull request #2555 here.

Michael wrote:

I still am leaning on treating ansible as an application, not a “python” application, so I am liking the idea of having a module directory still.

IMO, that it’s a Python application is a big part of Ansible’s appeal.

I do not think we should include this because it will result in a confusing switch in where users look for files between 1.1 and 1.2.

It’s transparent to the users. Only developers intending to hack on the bundled modules would need to look for the files, and those are likely to run from a checked out source tree anyway.

Otherwise, if you run “ansible” without options, it tells you where to look.

There is no reason we need to be Pythonic as we’re not just a tool for Python users, we’re just an application, and should install things in /usr/share to be more like the LSB.

It’s a pity if this means that we’re breaking distutils conventions.

This especially seems to make sense if we ship with say, powershell, modules at a later date.

Why does it matter which language the modules are written in?

I like this concept but I think we should keep things simple.

Note that this change removes more code than it adds – simpler setup script, simpler RPM spec, etc.

Best regards,
Daniel

4

Yeah, well, ansible could be written in COBOL or Intercal tomorrow, and it could distribute modules in the same way.

I don’t want to tie it to Python paths and I do NOT think it being a Python program is a major factor.

I would guess maybe 5% of users regularly write Python.

I prefer going with the /usr/share/ system because it is more Linuxey.

distutil conventions? Who knows those? Not many people. I am fine if the Makefile moves those into the right place by some other convention if the egg can also put them in the right place as well and that place remains the same.

If the issue is about virtualenv installation, that was made to work already.