It's actually not bad. I put the test code and the data files in a "test" subdirectory of my distribution, then added the following to the setup.py file: class Test (Command): user_options = [] def initialize_options(self): pass def finalize_options(self): pass def run (self): """Run the regrtest module appropriately""" # figure out where the _ssl2 extension will be put b = build(self.distribution) b.initialize_options() b.finalize_options() extdir = os.path.abspath(b.build_platlib) # now set up the load path topdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)) localtestdir = os.path.join(topdir, "test") sys.path.insert(0, topdir) # for ssl package sys.path.insert(0, localtestdir) # for test module sys.path.insert(0, extdir) # for _ssl2 extension # make sure the network is enabled import test.test_support test.test_support.use_resources = ["network"] # and load the test and run it os.chdir(localtestdir) the_module = __import__("test_ssl", globals(), locals(), []) # Most tests run to completion simply as a side-effect of # being imported. For the benefit of tests that can't run # that way (like test_threaded_import), explicitly invoke # their test_main() function (if it exists). indirect_test = getattr(the_module, "test_main", None) if indirect_test is not None: indirect_test() and added cmdclass={'test': Test}, to the setup call. Irritating that you have to manually install the test files as data_files. Also irritating that data_files aren't automatically added to the manifest, and that Test has to have null initialize_options and finalize_options. And that there's no easy way to figure out where the build process left the extension. Bill