[Distutils] question about setuptools

[Robert Kern]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:

> Maybe this is a dumb question, but if this is a Debian-specific issue, 
> can't you just create a Debian package that combines the setuptools .egg 
> and .pth files with a '/usr/lib/python2.4/distutils/distutils.cfg' file 
> that contains the right options?  Then, --prefix and --site-dirs would both 
> be unnecessary at the CLI level.

I'm not about to request for a change in Debian's Python policy. But now
that I've had a chance to review the new documentation (much improved!
Thanks!), I think that the easiest route is to tell people to set their
prefix and site-dirs in their ~/.pydistutils.cfg .

And no, it's not just Debian. One of my complainants uses Fedora Core,
and the other uses Debian, but maintains his self-built Python packages
using Stow. I just use Debian as an example because I'm familiar with it.

This is mostly an issue for people on various Unix-type setups with
package managers. For example, Ian Bicking has the same issue with
FreeBSD and comes to the same distutils.cfg solution:
http://blog.ianbicking.org/alternate-python-install-dir.html

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter