Should we consider removing the tests files from the final package?

[ocefpaf]

Comment:

Pandas is the largest package in my environments reaching ~73 MB, almost half of that is in the test folder. I don't know how useful the tests are for an installed artifact and I wonder if we should remove them from the final package.

PS: The same happens in the wheel and download times would be greatly improved if the tests were removed there too.

[jorisvandenbossche]

For reference, a pandas issue on this topic: pandas-dev/pandas#30741

My reading is that there is general agreement that this is something we should do. So I think conda-forge could certainly already start doing it

[ocefpaf]

Looks like the size of the tests already decreased a lot in the newer releases. Should we just close this and let upstream keep reducing them? Or does someone wants to tackle the complete removal of the test folder here?