1 files changed, 42 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/ebuild-writing/functions/src_compile/distutils/text.rst b/ebuild-writing/functions/src_compile/distutils/text.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54ae12f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ebuild-writing/functions/src_compile/distutils/text.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+Distutils
+=========
+
+General overview
+----------------
+
+The python packaging system is known as "distutils", and the hallmark of a
+python package using distutils is the presence of a ``setup.py`` file.
+(One can think of the ``setup.py`` file as the python equivalent of a
+Makefile.)  Although distutils is straightforward to use by directly
+running the ``setup.py`` with the appropriate arguments, the distutils
+eclass makes the process much simpler (and dramatically lowers the chance of
+sandbox violations).  For example, for the ``dev-python/id3-py`` package the
+body of the e-build (other than the header and URIs) could have been
+written as:
+
+.. CODESAMPLE distutils-1.ebuild
+
+Any files listed in ``${DOCS}`` will be put in the docs directory when
+installed.  Note that older versions of the distutils eclass used
+``${mydoc}`` instead, but the preferred variable is ``DOCS``.
+
+In practice, some tweaking is often required in the ``src_compile()`` or,
+more commonly, in the ``src_install()`` steps, and the distutils eclass
+provides ``distutils_src_compile()`` and ``distutils_src_install()``
+convenience functions:
+
+.. CODESAMPLE distutils-2.ebuild
+
+Tkinter (Tk) support
+--------------------
+
+Until portage gains the long-requested ability to depend on USE
+flags, ebuild authors who package graphical python programs will
+probably need to check at emerge-time whether or not python was
+compiled with support for Tkinter.  Since Tkinter requires Tk,
+which requires X, default python builds do *not* include Tkinter.
+It's easy enough to check:
+
+.. CODESAMPLE distutils-3.ebuild
+
+.. vim: set ft=glep tw=80 sw=4 et spell spelllang=en :