[Python] [ANN] BPT (Boxed Package Tool)

[Giuseppe Ottaviano]

Hi all,
I am pleased to announce BPT 0.2a (despite the number, this is the  
first public version).

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/bpt

Like virtualenv, BPT allows to create isolate environments, but it is  
not limited to Python software, as it can be used to install arbitrary  
Unix software. It can be used for development (several versions of the  
same software can be installed in the same environment, and  
administrator privileges are not needed), and for deployment of  
complete installations (the environments are relocatable).

Feel free to use and test it, comments are welcome.

What is BPT
===========

BPT is a Python library (``bpt``) and a command line application
(``box``) to create and manage isolated enviroments, or *boxes*. Boxes
are *relocatable*, which means that they can be moved to a different
directory or even distributed to other machines (provided that the
architecture is compatible). Packages inside the box can be easily
disabled, enabled and removed, so that different versions of the same
software can be installed simultaneously, allowing to switch between
them.

BPT is similar in some ways to `virtualenv
<http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv>`_, but it is not restricted
to Python packages, allowing to install virtually any Unix
software. It also takes some ideas from `jhbuild
<http://live.gnome.org/Jhbuild>`_, but without the dependency
resolution and automatic downloading machinery, and the ``bpt-rules``
format is inspired by `Gentoo <http://www.gentoo.org/>`_'s ebuilds.

-- 
Giuseppe Ottaviano