Perl to Python: test tools? CPAN? perlbrew?

Hi,

I might have to use Python in a new project; and I have used Perl and CPAN to build test tools in my QA work.

Where can I find useful Python s/w (especially for test tasks), like Perl's CPAN?
Is pypi.python.org the best repository for Python code now?
Are there other good Python repositories?

Is there a Python equivalent to perlbrew, which lets me install and easily switch among several different versions of perl on a machine?

Thanks.
clp

Yes, the Python Package Index (PyPI) seems to have become the Python repo of choice. But I seldom install packages directly from PyPI; almost every package that is reasonably mature has been packaged for Ubuntu, so I usually install from Ubuntu repos.

Running more than one version of Python on a machine SHOULD work. I have Python 2.7 and 3.something on my machine and no problems.

But I have heard from people whose experience has not been good. I don't know of anything like perlbrew to make it less painful. I would probably resort to virtual machines with one version per VM.

Allen

I run mostly Red Hat-like distros and use the yum tool as their equivalent of apt-get. When I need a python package that isn't in RPM format, there's easy_install.

I used to do my quick-and-dirty stuff in Perl, but CPAN has a bad habit of delivering broken modules. The python eggs have always seemed to run without problems. I credit a lot of this to the fact that unlike Perl, you don't have to compile a lot of C code to get a module going. So mostly I do only things that use basic Perl modules and are regex-related now. Anything else in the Q&D department I usually do in Python.

I don't normally attempt to switch Python versions on a single machine, but you might want to look at the "alternatives" facility. If Ubuntu has support for alternate versions, that's probably what controls it.