Disadvantage of Python eggs?

Question

Are there any disadvantages about using eggs through easy-install compared to the "traditional" packages/modules/libs?

Cringe

@Ian Bicking should have something to say on this – Floozy

Answer 1

One (potential) disadvantage is that eggs are zipped by default unless zip_safe=False is set in their setup() function in setup.py. If an egg is zipped, you can't get at the files in it (without unzipping it, obviously). If the module itself uses non-source files (such as templates) it will probably specify zip_safe=False, but another consequence is that you cannot effectively step into zipped modules using pdb, the Python debugger. That is, you can, but you won't be able to see the source or navigate properly.

Acidulent

You could always use easy_install -Z to force it to install unzipped. There's also a way to configure it to unzip by default. – Sampler

I got the Mercurial egg, but TortoiseHg didn't recognize it, so i had to install it the traditional way. Does it have anything to do with the zip thing? – Cringe

@Daniel: "There's also a way to configure it to unzip by default" how? – Acidulent

Answer 2

Using eggs does cause a long sys.path, which has to be searched and when it's really long that search can take a while. Only when you get a hundred entries or so is this going to be a problem (but installing a hundred eggs via easy_install is certainly possible).

Piquet