https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Legoktm/toolforge_library?

I can see why this would be convenient, but I think it's mostly because bootstrapping new tools is painful (c.f. T174769).

If people want to install this by default, I'd want to define a specific backwards-compat policy that allows us to make changes if necessary without being frozen to one API forever. (Also move it to Gerrit, have a Phab bug tracker, etc.)

I do use virtualenv (as this is the only possible thing) but creating venv for each one-time script is creating a lot of duplicate files - that can be prevented by global instalation.

In T189711#4062655, @Urbanecm wrote:

I do use virtualenv (as this is the only possible thing) but creating venv for each one-time script is creating a lot of duplicate files - that can be prevented by global instalation.

You can reuse the virtualenvs if the environment will not change (or if it is a superset of the needed packages).

In T189711#4062655, @Urbanecm wrote:

I do use virtualenv (as this is the only possible thing) but creating venv for each one-time script is creating a lot of duplicate files - that can be prevented by global instalation.

Create a single venv that you use for the tool or your user account. This is basically the same thing as a global install for your purposes, but a) doesn't mean that we need to manage a library not published in apt, and b) makes each script author aware of the environment they are actually depending on rather than expecting global magic.