Next try with the build_scripts patch. Again the changes: - build command additionally calls build_scripts - build_scripts builds your scripts in 'build/scripts' and adjusts the first line if it begins with "#!" and ends with "python", optionally ending with commandline options (like -O, -t ...). Adjusting means we write the current path to the Python interpreter in the first line. - install_misc class is commented out because its not needed any more - install_scripts copies the scripts to the install_scripts dir - install_data copies your data_files in install_data. You can supply individual directories for your data_files: data_files = ['doc/info.txt', # copy this file in install_scripts dir ('testdata', ['a.dat', 'b.dat']), # copy these files in # install_scripts/testdata ('/etc', ['packagerc']), # copy this in /etc. When --root is # given, copy this in rootdir/etc ] So you can use the --root option with absolute data paths. Bastian