Here is the current specification that I am suggesting we build a PoC for: Specification of editable installation
Presumably with Bernat’s additional suggestion of adding a version number.
It’s pretty dead-simple, and I don’t know that it’s worth going into much more detail until we know what’s feasible and what problems could come up, but I think it’s the minimal specification that meets the requirements of:
- Back-ends don’t need to know anything about how to install files.
- Front-ends handle entry point generation and installation.
- Front-ends have the option of “installing” only the files that will be visible in a non-editable install.
There will certainly need to be more details fleshed out, but I still think that the next step is a proof of concept in pip and setuptools, since those are the most widely used tools and the tools most likely to run into backwards compatibility problems that will need to be addressed in the PEP.