[Distutils] Distutil installation tricks

[Edward Colbert]

Hi,  

I have questions rather than answers:  

We would like to use Distutils
for installation of our Python front end to IRAF (an astronomical data
reduction program).  Our front end is called PyRAF.  Upon reading the Distutil
documentation, I can figure out how to do a basic installation but there
are some files that do not seem to install easily with the current version
of Distutil (or I am missing something).

First, we need to install several data files and scripts.  One is named 
"pyraf" and is a python script.  Another is a database file called 
pyraf.Database, which is created specifically for each platform by executing a 
python script mkpyraf.Database.py.  Some other data files need to be copied
directly.

Lastly, we have three modules written in C that need to be compiled plus
a C library package that also needs to be compiled.  I can set up the include
directories and library directories for each platform, but we would like to
have a platform-independent script that probes the platform type and checks
to see where the include and library files are located and then assigns the
include and library directories before the compile and link.

Is there any way to do these things with the current Distutil without 
essentially writing my own python scripts.  I have seen some discussion about
adding provisions for scripts and data files.  What is the consensus on that?

We want to have a working installation procedure by April 15th.

I subscribe to the list, so any response to the list would be fine.

Thanks a lot,
Ed Colbert