I'm not gonna argue against that. Using pip-install certainly limits our current audience to people who are comfortable with python packaging tools, which basically means python developers.

I'm hoping to get beyond that, once I get the protocol and feature set stabilized. Using something like PyInstaller or py2app to get a single-file executable will be the first step. Porting it to other languages (I've started on SPAKE2 in Rust) might help too.

FWIW, "apt install magic-wormhole" now works on Debian (stretch) and Ubuntu (zesty). Also homebrew, as mentioned before.

Quick survey: what packaged form would be most useful to you (for desktop usage.. having some kind of iOS/Android app is a whole other beast). PPA? .dmg? .exe? .msi?