For my own use, a todo list on astropy_helpers based on the last telecon discussion on the topic:

• Move Sphinx extensions from astropy to astropy_helpers
• Add --offline flag recognized by ah_bootstrap to force disabling of downloads
• When going to download from the internet, issue a warning message informing the user of the --offline option
• Add a custom sdist and extension to bdist commands to include astropy_helpers in distributions (it would not be included by default)
• In cases where astropy-helpers was bundled with a source distribution, add the option to automatically use a newer (compatible) version of astropy-helpers than the bundled one if available (this way bug fixes can be pushed out, etc.)
• Add setup.py test command to astropy_helpers, but with the provision that it requires astropy itself to be installed in order to fully function
• Per the APE draft, a _compiler module template should be provided.
• Discussion the rationale for the above points in the APE