How to disable PYTHONPATH checking when installing packages using distribute

Hi, During installing a package which uses distribute (matplotlib in this case), it refuses to work with this message "running install Checking .pth file support in /usr/local/stow/matplotlib-1.3.0/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ /usr/bin/python -E -c pass TEST FAILED: /usr/local/stow/matplotlib-1.3.0/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ does NOT support .pth files error: bad install directory or PYTHONPATH ... Please make the appropriate changes for your system and try again." I install local packages using the stow approach, which installs each package under its own sub-directory and later "stowed" (https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/). Such "error" becomes a nuisance as a different PYTHONPATH has to be set for each installation of a package. How can the checking be disable? I don't seem to be able to find anything in the documentation and would be grateful for any pointer. Or maybe it's better turned into a warning and users be reminded to add the install directory to PYTHONPATH. Regards, ST --

On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM, <lukshuntim@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
During installing a package which uses distribute (matplotlib in this case), it refuses to work with this message
"running install Checking .pth file support in /usr/local/stow/matplotlib-1.3.0/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ /usr/bin/python -E -c pass TEST FAILED: /usr/local/stow/matplotlib-1.3.0/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ does NOT support .pth files error: bad install directory or PYTHONPATH ... Please make the appropriate changes for your system and try again."
I install local packages using the stow approach, which installs each package under its own sub-directory and later "stowed" (https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/). Such "error" becomes a nuisance as a different PYTHONPATH has to be set for each installation of a package.
How can the checking be disable? I don't seem to be able to find anything in the documentation and would be grateful for any pointer.
Or maybe it's better turned into a warning and users be reminded to add the install directory to PYTHONPATH.
By default setuptools (distribute) installs packages as eggs, and loading eggs requires the ability to write a .pth file to a directory that will be checked for .pth files at start up (i.e. is in PYTHONPATH or otherwise on sys.path by default). You can avoid doing an egg-based install by instead running: python setup.py install --single-version-externally-managed --prefix /usr/local/stow/matplotlib-1.3.0 or something to that effect. I think if you do this you also need to make sure to manually add the .egg-info directory as well. I think you can do this with python setup.py install_egg_info --install-dir /usr/local/stow/matplotlib-1.3.0/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ but YMMV. You might also try just installing with pip since it will basically install the package in the same way by default. Erik
participants (2)
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Erik Bray
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lukshuntim@gmail.com