python / python/pymanager

Automatically clean up cached downloads

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#368 8 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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enhancement
Dominant language
Python
Stars
344
Forks
74
Avg merge
1d 3h
Merged PRs (30d)
7

Description

Background

According to the documentation, the download_dir directory "is a temporary cache, and can be cleaned up from time to time."

Details

If the download_dir directory is a temporary cache, wouldn't it make sense for the default to be %TEMP%\Python (or something similar), rather than a subdirectory of the global_dir directory?

Why?

  1. Files in %TEMP% should be assumed to be temporary (hence the name), so wouldn't it make sense to put temporary downloads there?

  2. Files in %TEMP% are, I believe, subject to the Windows automatic "clean up temporary files" feature, aren't they? In this way, old downloads would get cleaned up automatically, wouldn't they? (I'm not an expert on this feature, so I may be all wet here.)

I'm new to this project, so I'm sure others will set me straight if I'm way off here...

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing where the download_dir and global_dir defaults are defined and read the linked Windows administrative-configuration documentation. Check how Windows temporary-file cleanup applies to the proposed location; done would require an agreed default location, documented behavior, and tests or verification for the resulting configuration.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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