
Crate.io: A new kind of Python package index - ak217
https://crate.io/
======
flexd
I am confused as to exactly what Crate.io does differently to PyPi. Yes, it is
a better web interface, but what are the actual improvements over PyPi? Why
would we use it? Wouldn't it be better for the PyPi website to get a revamp?

As it is now the front page of PyPi <https://pypi.python.org/pypi> gives us
more information than the front page of Crate.

I like that it's quick, PyPi is a bit slow for me at the moment.

I also like the info page for a specific package
(<https://crate.io/packages/docopt/#description>), it's nice and informative,
quite easy to read but I do not like that you have to click the info tab to
see the classifiers (which python versions it works with, among other things).

What is the key arguments and features that should make us want to use
Crate.io over PyPi?

I mostly interface with PyPi via pip on the commandline.

Is crate supposed to be a drop-in replacement? Can we just make pip work
against a different base url? Will you launch your own pip replacement?

How is Crate.io better than the current PyPi? The website does not mention any
of this, it barely contains any text.

</ramble>, I've just wrote up a few of the questions I had while checking it
out, sorry if it's a bit incoherent :-)

~~~
_wmd
It implements full text search without repeated strcmp() over half a gigabyte
of strings, so search completes in reasonable time.

Compare that to PyPi which does exactly what I described, and even during off
peak periods, searches can sometimes take up to 20 seconds

~~~
srinidhiv
Why not just fork the pypi code and fix it, then?

~~~
donaldstufft
Have you looked at the PyPI codebase? ;)

The real answer is I have. I'm a PyPI administrator now and have been enacting
a lot of these benefits on PyPI itself. Just this weekend I've deployed a CDN
in front of all of PyPI so that package downloads have sped up by 1-3 orders
of magnitude depending on location.

Previously I had pushed hard for getting a real valid and trusted SSL
certificate on PyPI, moving the user provided html/js from packages.python.org
to pythonhosted.org in order to prevent CSRF fixation attacks.

Like I said Crate is an experiment. One that has enabled me to push for good
changes in PyPI.

~~~
meowface
I think you're doing good work here, and I agree that PyPI is quite a bit of a
mess. One little suggestion/question, though.

CPAN: Comprehensive Perl Archive Network

Rubygems: (self-explanatory)

PyPI: Python Package Index

Crate.io: Crate? Crate.io?

Nothing about the name or any part of the domain really mentions Python, or
Python packages or libraries. It's not a bad name, but it doesn't really seem
like a name for a large Python package index. What's the exact rationale
behind the naming?

~~~
donaldstufft
Crate is a synonym for Package and I liked the name :)

~~~
jl6
I believe a krait is a kind of snake if you want to go for that angle.

~~~
antihero
The only reason I know this is due to playing Elite II.

~~~
jl6
Ditto :-) There was a Python freighter too!

~~~
antihero
IIRC that was actually the best (although not the biggest).

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calpaterson
This is pretty great. A substantial improvement on PyPI. I like the link to
ReadTheDocs - something which I often have to hunt for on PyPI

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valtron
Great commit message:
[https://github.com/crateio/crate.pypi/commit/94ce379fe386c90...](https://github.com/crateio/crate.pypi/commit/94ce379fe386c9051fbe21a6dd992ec9d6b8db87)

~~~
donaldstufft
Working with PyPI tends to make for an angry time.

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rpicard
This looks pretty nice. It would look better if you moved away from the
default Bootstrap look. You don't really say what it is, but I'm assuming it's
just a front end for information from PyPI.

~~~
joshbaptiste
I don't care about the look, bootstrap whatever.. it works i'm fine.. great
work.

~~~
lovamova
Wait until Bootstrap gets in the way…

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sachingulaya
Am I nuts or was crate.io a paid filedrop service in the past?

~~~
chrishenn
You are thinking of <https://letscrate.com/>.

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mihok
How does it pick up the packages? Is there a registration to get on board? I
have some PyPi packages that aren't showing up in search, how would I go about
adding said packages to this index?

~~~
donaldstufft
It uses the XMLRPC API to pick up new packages.
<http://wiki.python.org/moin/PyPIXmlRpc>

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defrex
"Crate is a new kind of Python package index."

Why?

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Fomite
Yes, but what does it _do_?

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ollieglass
Nice. I'd like to sort search results by the number of downloads.

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reidrac
Looks great!

I miss one thing: PGP signature files. I've been checking one of my packages
and PyPI is showing the .asc file but crate only shows the sha256 hash.

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jgalt212
I would find either PyPi or Crate.io more useful if either of them provided a
method to determine which modules are downloaded most often.

~~~
seubert
[http://mail.python.org/pipermail/distutils-
sig/2013-May/0208...](http://mail.python.org/pipermail/distutils-
sig/2013-May/020855.html)

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monkmartinez
Would love to see PyPI or Crate.io list dependencies or provide a way to view
them before I download a package...

~~~
JulianWasTaken
Unfortunately in the general case that's not information PyPI will know.

~~~
donaldstufft
Not yet anyways ;)

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kespindler
yeah i like this too. very nice! and would much prefer looking at and using
this to pypi.

although i will say i usually just google for a python package and come across
a stackexchange that points me to some package, rather than using some index.
if you can become some authoritative reference, more power to you.

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pessimism
I get a 500, when I try to sign up using GitHub.

Happens at

    
    
        https://crate.io/social-auth/complete/github/?code=123

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mkumm
Nice and clean but I am not sure what problem it is really trying to solve.

~~~
sdfjkl
Have you tried using the Cheeseshop lately? I have. It was a painfully slow
and wretched experience and I ended up browsing multiple pages to find what I
was looking for.

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ylem
What adding about some ability to browse? It is fast!

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lifeisstillgood
Maybe I am being dumb but I don't really get it

Pypi.python.org/simple is the heart of everything - do we even use a package
repository to browse for packages these days - or do we rely on the blue
googles?

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Siecje
Where does the downloads information come from?

