So, where's the wheel to .deb/.rpm/.msi/.pkg converter?
For real ease of distribution, you have to support a destination platform's native package format.
See also: http://xkcd.com/927/
For real ease of distribution, you have to support a destination platform's native package format.
See also: http://xkcd.com/927/
[Such that installing your language-specific package causes appropriate entries to appear in the system's global database of installed packages. Thus making it easier to identify candidates for upgrade, ensure dependencies are correct, remove redundant libs and so forth]
Though I believe the best way to make that happen is to make your language play nice with automake. Nobody believes me.
I think of automake as being more part of the build process. But if things worked as you and inopinatus suggest, and you have taught something like pip 2.0 to bypass the rpm package manager and instead add records directly to the RPM database for a binary wheel package that pip has installed, aren't you kind of routing around any problems of a distribution's compatibility with a language's custom build process entirely?
Or did you mean to reply one level up? Though, again, I'm not sure where automake would help with converting one binary package format into a distribution-specific binary format.
The thing with automake is:
1. Distros know how to package it. With cdbs, a debian/rules file for a properly autotooled package is only a couple of lines.
2. Because everything boils down to shell and makefile fragments, you can extend it to fit your corner cases fairly easily.
The future, it's not with automake.