[Biopython-dev] SVN migration and Launchpad mirroring

[Bruce Southey]

Eric Talevich wrote:
> A couple more notes on Launchpad:
>
> - Checking out from the master branch does not require signing up for a
> Launchpad account. Using Launchpad's bug tracker, etc. does, but that's
> optional and expected.
>   
What is a good project using Launchpad?
Ignoring the arguments about it's openness, I have found it to be too 
slow and difficult to navigate to be useful. Sure the latter is 
experience since I use command line to update numpy and Biopython.

> - The PPA feature really is cool, at least using it from Ubuntu. The
> python-biopython package is included in the main distribution, but Biopython
> releases happen more frequently than every 6 months, so that package gets
> out of date. With the PPA, interested users can track new releases in the
> package manager without downloading a fresh copy or checking out the
> development version with cvs/svn/bzr.
>   
I find the idea of PPA was complete waste of effort and time! Why? 
Simply because we are not the distribution maintainers for numpy and 
Biopython. It would be far better to work with the package maintainers 
to ensure these are up to date as well as any bugs that may get reported 
or fixed by them. While I do not use it, I am not sure how relevant that 
is to just using EasyInstall to provide the latest snapshots which try 
to avoid any distro or platform requirements.

My couple of cents,
Bruce