Sorry for the late reply, but I've been very busy...
This is the result of operator error, but nonetheless... I accidentally launched an install of PyXML on a w2k system where it was already installed. I know the instructions say to remove old installations first (actually it wasn't an "old" installation, it was the same version, to be really nitpicky) as I said, Operator Error. However, at this point:
(a) the existing installation is not detected with a bailout option ("blah blah already installed blah blah do you want to continue?") This should probably wait until there is a distutils registry of installed modules.
(b) there's no way to abort the installation once it starts (no cancel button)
I've hesitated to add this because an installation cancelled in the middle of file-copying would certainly leave the system in a not very useful state.
(c) you are prompted for EACH file as to whether to replace or not; there is no "yes to all" (or "no to all") so one would potentially have to click "yes" or "no" hundreds of times to complete for something like PyXML. You could press the 'N' or 'Y' button and leave it pressed, so this would not take forever ;-) Seriously: I should add this. My excuse: The yes/no to all is asked once just before the start of the installation.
Thomas