Changes coming to Paver

Paver is the Python-based build tool that I released several months ago. It uses a Rake-like approach; you create a .py file that is filled with “tasks” which are basically just functions that can be invoked from the command line. Paver has largely been focused on automating Python projects.

Last week, I got together with Marshall and Matt from Zattoo. They’ve been working on a tool called pytoss which is focused on deployment. There are two parts to pytoss: the library and the “tool”. The library is being broken out into a new project called CloudControl, and it provides all kinds of high-level, handy deployment goodies on top of Paramiko. And it’s liberally licensed.

There’s a lot of overlap between pytoss’ tool component and Paver. So, we got together to see what we can do about that. The two approaches were already quite similar. There are a handful of small differences, and I like some of the pytoss approach. At a high-level, here’s what’s going to happen:

• the pytoss tool part will go away
• Paver will become less Python project-specific (but won’t lose the Python project-specific features it has)
• the small bit of magic that Paver has will go away
• Paver will add some optional support for CloudControl for deployment
• Paver will also inherit some nice features like the easy ability to run sub-builds (build other Paver-based projects)

These are just the changes that are in store based on the pytoss integration. There are some other cool features that I have in mind.

I have also decided to move Paver from Launchpad to Googlecode. I find Launchpad to be far more confusing, especially for a small project like Paver. Additionally, bzr’s svn plugin appears to make it so easy to sync with a central server that there’s no reason to make everyone use bzr. Those who want to, can. And those that are used to svn can use svn.

Paver’s official homepage is unchanged, there’s just a new project page, bug tracker and source control URL.

A big thanks to Matt, Marshall and Jonathan for CloudControl and for helping out with Paver!