[Distutils] distutils and the development process

[est@hyperreal.org]

Greetings, disutils people!

I'd like to be able to use distutil's build process while I'm
developing and debugging code.  This has proven difficult so far
because of the use of the build directory.  I've ended up just using
Makefile-driven in-place builds during the development cycle.  Does
anyone have any tips or tricks in this area?

I'm also curious how people like to run test scripts.  One special
case is post-install hello-world-type example programs for the
installer to play with.  To keep mine from being confused by the
package source directory, I end up adding the following to them:


# Ugh..make sure we look only in system directories for the package.
# This is only important when executing a script in the package
# distribution directory.
import sys
sys.path = sys.path[1:]


There's got to be a better way.  In fact, I often end up commenting
out that assignment during development so I can test my in-place
Makefile-driven builds!

Anyhow, I feel like I must be doing things wrong and I'd appreciate
opinions on these topics. :)

Eric