[arch-general] Pros/Cons of Python zipapp packaging

[Daan De Meyer]

Hi,

We've been discussing the distribution mechanism for mkosi (
https://github.com/systemd/mkosi) and one of the ideas is using Python
zipapp (https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipapp.html) to allow us to split
mkosi up into multiple files for easier development without complicating
the packaging process. zipapp takes all source files in a directory and
bundles them up into a single executable python zip archive so after
building the zip you can simply call ./mkosi to run mkosi and can put it
anywhere in the PATH to simply run mkosi wherever you want. Are there any
issues with this approach from a distro packaging perspective? Zipapp
doesn't bundle a specific python version (uses system python and system
python stdlib) and we don't intend on bundling any dependencies in the
zipapp. I don't think I've ever seen a python application packaged this way
which is why I'm asking.

Cheers,

Daan