pipsi

Absolutely! The post mentions a little bit how pip is definitely used for distributing command-line applications, from fab to pex to ansible. So much so that pipsi[0] is a thing. Even the tiny static site generator used to generate the post is a CLI app that leans on PyPI for distribution[1]. The origins and designs for the tools listed are primarily for libraries. Entrypoints[2] and other features came much later. Use of these techniques is overextended when developer distribute nontrivial code on PyPI with a non-developer audience. People get a buggy install and conclude that Python packaging is the problem :) As for the package manager crosstalk, I feel you. That's definitely a source of the demand for tools that create self-contained artifacts. [0]: https://github.com/mitsuhiko/pipsi [1]: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/chert [2]: http:/

pip is atrocious/dangerous on any system without virtualenv. I've managed to sort this by using virtualenvs where I can and homebrew Python + packages when I can't (numpy, etc.). Two things really help: pipsi (https://github.com/mitsuhiko/pipsi), which installs tools inside their own virtualenv and PIP_REQUIRE_VIRTUALENV, which stops pip from working outside a virtualenv.