consider getting rid of packages/binaries built by pyinstaller (windows exe and mac pkg)

[efiop]

We've been running into issues with pyinstaller-built binaries for a long time and now I wonder if we should abandon them for good.

Mac: we have brew, pip and conda, doesn't seem like there is any need for our own pkg installer. We can't really make pkg installer install non-binary package for now, as we depend on python and mac has py2, which is soon to be dead. Supporting py2 only for that is not an option as well, since it causes a lot more issues than pyinstaller, so we'll drop py2 a bit before or right at Jan 1 2020. Considering how popular and powerful brew, pip and conda are, feels like we can just drop pkg for good.

Win: we have pip and conda, feels like something like chocolatey package would be a nice addition, that would eliminate the need for our own exe installer, but I haven't researched it enough. Also can't really make our current exe install non-binary, as there is no default python to rely on :slight_frown: Seems like conda is de-facto the standard for DS on windows, so maybe we could also simply drop the exe.

Linux: we have pip and conda. We also have deb and rpm packages and repos, which are currently packing binaries, but we could totally make it python-dependendent. That would take a bit more work to convert dep python packages, but it seems like a good idea in the long run, if any of the deb/rpm distros ever decide to include dvc into default repos.

From https://discordapp.com/channels/485586884165107732/565699007037571084/642407396790239254

[efiop]

If there are any users that need these, please let us know here in the comments. 🙂

[efiop]

Some stats on our pkg and exe downloads: https://www.somsubhra.com/github-release-stats/?username=iterative&repository=dvc Some of those are from our tests. So not many downloads for windows and mac installers. deb/pkg are usually served from our s3 repos, so those don't count.

Python is not that hard to get on Windows: https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/06/04/new-guide-python-is-in-the-latest-build-of-windows-10-adafruitlearningsystem-python-adafruit-win10-windows-adafruit/

You can search it on the store, without going to Python.org 👀

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/python-37/9nj46sx7x90p

[efiop]

@MrOutis Still not as simple as current installer. Maybe there is a better way to package this.

[efiop]

Not finding any good alternative :( Looks like the options for distributing python app are the same as they were 2 years ago. Looks like we will simply have to suck it up and improve our testing to catch those issues early. 🙁

[efiop]

Things like awscli are also still using pyinstaller, even though they run into similar issues from time to time. Looks like there is no other way for now. Closing.

@efiop , I think you are overestimating the installation task; right now is as easy as searching python on the store, click download, pip install dvc and you are done :)

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