[pwang]

Well, kind of. We've tried to work with the python core packaging folks to improve the built-in metadata facilities. (There has been a checkered history there in terms of reception to our ideas...)

In terms of making these packages easier to build, that's really not actually where the problem is. The fact that numpy, scipy, cython, etc. need to have a shared compiler and build toolchain is really a result of operating systems and the C language ABI works.