Include license file in PyPI package

[djmattyg007]

It would be great if a copy of the LICENSE file could be included in the PyPI package. Not only is this a good idea in general, it would assist people in packaging this software for Linux distributions.

[alexmojaki]

If I make a new release of either this package or birdseye (which uses this) then users will start seeing warnings that they should upgrade. That makes me reluctant to make new releases that make little difference. It's making me think this package wasn't a good idea.

Do you want to make a Linux package? I've never really understood the advantage of something like apt install python-birdseye over pip install birdseye. Seems like it often works out poorly.

[djmattyg007]

If I make a new release of either this package or birdseye (which uses this) then users will start seeing warnings that they should upgrade.

I don't understand the problem. If I was an end user, I would absolutely want a copy of the license included in the package I'm downloading. This is important and useful for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to auditing of licenses in my application.

Do you want to make a Linux package?

There already is an AUR package available for this project:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/python-outdated/

It needs a bit of tidy-up, and this issue is part of that.

I've never really understood the advantage of something like apt install python-birdseye over pip install birdseye. Seems like it often works out poorly.

There are plenty of good reasons to have a copy of a python package installed globally and managed by the system package manager. There are also plenty of good reasons to install packages within a virtualenv, and the many other ways you can install python packages.

No one is asking you to support all of these use cases yourself. However, it is a common occurrence (and for some licenses, a requirement) to ship a copy of the software's license with the software itself. In fact, the license you've chosen (MIT) includes this text:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

The specific copyright notice Copyright (c) 2018 Alex Hall is unique to your software, and therefore isn't covered by just stating elsewhere that the relevant license is "MIT". By not including the license text in your PyPI uploads, it's possible you're violating the terms of the license.

[alexmojaki]

Thanks. Sorry if I came across as difficult, I was genuinely trying to understand. See the new versions on PyPI.

[djmattyg007]

Thank you :)