Hi, Phillip J. Eby:
There is another option I'm working on, --single-version-externally-managed, which is designed for system packagers to create old-style packages, but with the metadata included as a separate .egg-info directory. This won't help you, though, because it will result in having even *more* directories in site-packages - the package directories plus an .egg-info directory.
The package directory is not a problem, one directory needs to be present anyway -- whether it's called "foo" or "foo-VERSION.egg" doesn't matter much. Maybe it would be a good idea to hide all the .egg-info directories under one common subdirectory, i.e. instead of "foo.egg-info" (or, as you plan IIRC, "foo-VERSION.egg-info"), the metadata would be in something like .../EGG-INFO/foo-VERSION/*. Advantage: no clutter, less work for every tools because you have to scan through fewer directory items. I'd go as far as disallowing .egg files in directories which have an EGG-INFO subdirectory, which would reduce scan times even more. Rationale: Either a directory is externally managed, or it is not. (/usr vs. /usr/local.) If it is, shipping an .egg makes no sense -- you don't gain anything by doing that. If it is not, on the other hand installing externally-managed versions makes no sense. -- Matthias Urlichs | {M:U} IT Design @ m-u-it.de | smurf@smurf.noris.de Disclaimer: The quote was selected randomly. Really. | http://smurf.noris.de - - The minute you start to analyze why sex feels so good, it stops feeling good and starts feeling silly. -- Solomon Short