If I give easy_install - an ordinary spec (e.g. "demo") - an -f option that points to a local directory containing a bunch of eggs and that is not on sys,path, - ask it to install to some directory (-d), and - use the -m option it doesn't copy eggs found to the install directory even though the source directory isn't on sys.path. The logic for deciding whether to copy seems to be: # Installation is also needed if file in tmpdir or is not an egg install_needed = install_needed or os.path.dirname(download) == tmpdir install_needed = install_needed or not download.endswith ('.egg') where install_needed starts out as false in this case because the spec is not a url. The second part has no effect because the value if the download variable ends in .egg. The --always-copy documentation hints that distributions will be copied unless they are found in a directory sys.path, but I see no check. Why are the eggs not copied? Jim -- Jim Fulton mailto:jim@zope.com Python Powered! CTO (540) 361-1714 http://www.python.org Zope Corporation http://www.zope.com http://www.zope.org