Hi, Here's something that I think should work: % python setup.py --help clean [...] Options for 'clean' command: --build-base (-b) base build directory (default: 'build.build-base') % python setup.py clean -b ../builds running clean Nothing happens. This works, however: % python setup.py build -b ../builds clean running build running build_py running build_ext running config gcc -E -I/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/include/python2.3 -o_configtest.i _configtest.c removing: _configtest.c _configtest.i running clean removing '../builds/temp.darwin-6.8-Power_Macintosh-2.3' (and everything under it) The logic to set build_temp from build_base (-b) is only present in the build command, not in the clean command. The code to set this option runs from clean.set_undefined_options. But it's clean's build_base option which is set at the time, not build's, so it propagates an empty path. The test command class I found posted to this mailing list has a workaround for the above problem, which looks like this: def finalize_options(self): build = self.distribution.get_command_obj('build') build_options = ('build_base', 'build_purelib', 'build_platlib') for option in build_options: setattr(build, option, getattr(self, option)) build.ensure_finalized() for option in build_options: setattr(self, option, getattr(build, option)) and doesn't call self.set_undefined_options at all, though the last three lines could be replaced by it. There are several solutions I can think of: - set_undefined_options should be changed to propagate set options to the source command object before calling src_cmd_obj.ensure_finalized. - another method should be added to the cmd class, which does the above propagation then calls set_undefined_options. - a workaround such as the one above should be placed in the distutils.command.clean.clean class. Does this make sense? Unless there's a huge compatibility issue, I'd favor the first option, but my experience with distutils is limited. -- =Nicholas Riley <njriley@uiuc.edu> | <http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/njriley>