setuptools not always included in virtualenv

[dmreagan]

I'm testing the installation procedures for the review at openjournals/joss-reviews#7120. I tried following the instructions for installing from a git clone.

git clone https://github.com/retostauffer/python-colorspace.git
cd python-colorspace && python setup.py install

It worked just fine from a conda environment, but failed when I tried a virtualenv environment because setuptools was missing. I am on a Ubuntu system. It might be worth adding a line to the documentation that not all virtual environments will include setuptools by default, or else find some way to ensure that setuptools is there.

[retostauffer]

Dear @dmreagan,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We have made several updates to both our documentation and the Makefile to ensure that setuptools is installed when installing colorspace from source, either on the system or in a virtual environment.

Documentation updates

• Installation instructions: We now recommend running pip install setuptools before installing colorspace. If setuptools is already installed, pip will confirm with a "Requirement already satisfied" message.
• Testing instructions: Updated to include setuptools in the pip install command to ensure it's available for testing.

Makefile updates

We've added setuptools installation steps in the virtual environment setup:

• hardenv: Now runs pip install setuptools before installing colorspace. This environment is used for running minimal requirement tests (hardtest; Makefile#L14).
• venv: Added setuptools to the requirements_devel.txt file, which is used for extended testing, test coverage, and documentation generation.

These changes should ensure that setuptools is installed if it’s not already available.

[dmreagan]

Looks good to me. Closing.