[IPython-user] Idioms for using custom profiles

[Ville M. Vainio]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 5:57 AM, Fernando Perez <fperez.net@gmail.com> wrote:

>>> As I see it, profiles are for stuff that
>>> fundamentally change how ipython works.
>>
>> That sounds fair, and of course I will defer to your judgment.  Plus,
>
> Well, I figured I'd pitch in a bit.  Given how I wrote the profile
> machinery initially and it was very much one of the reasons I started
> ipython to begin with, I might have an opinion :)  I actually very
> much disagree with Ville's view of profiles as fundamentally altering
> ipython.  The original motivation for profiles was to have a
> lightweight mechanism for easily customizing your interactive python
> session in various ways without having to constantly play environment
> gymnastics with $PYTHONSTARTUP, the only thing honored by python
> itself.  The idea was to let you keep your main config in your base
> profile and easily layer on top of it 'versions' of ipython tailored
> for specific tasks.  See slide 11 in this old talk from 5 years ago:

I would consider "tailoring ipython for specific task" fundamentally
altering how ipython works. If you are just *adding* things as opposed
to changing them (such as providing new magic functions), it probably
shouldn't be primarily a profile - though you can also add a trivial
profile that imports the extension later on:

e.g. ipy_profile_yp.py that does "import ipy_yp", along with perhaps
printing some help banner.

-- 
Ville M. Vainio
http://tinyurl.com/vainio