[Distutils] Setuptools for Python 2.5

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 10:19 PM 9/12/2006 +0100, Paul Moore wrote:
>ez_setup won't install with Python 2.5c1 - presumably, because there
>isn't a Python 2.5 egg available from the Cheeseshop. I'd have
>expected it to build from sources in the absence of a suitable egg.

Actually, that's not the reason.  Python 2.5 requires setuptools 0.7a1, 
which is only available from SVN.


>Given that it doesn't, how do I build and install setuptools on 2.5c1
>(on Windows)? I've downloaded and run setup.py bdist_egg, but how do I
>get it installed "properly"? I could just build a bdist_wininst and
>install that, but that's the "old way", and I want to try out the new
>approach.

setup.py install.  Be sure to use the 0.7a1 version from the trunk.


>Can anyone give me some hints? And would it be worth updating the
>documentation with an explanation of how to handle this (dealing with
>the lack of a published binary of a package for your specific version
>of Python - how to find out what you need to build for yourself, where
>to put things when you have built them, etc etc).

"setup.py install" is the answer to this in the general case.


>I have a sinking feeling that the next thing I'll hit is that once I
>have setuptools installed, easy_install TurboGears (for example) will
>also fail from lack of Python 2.5 binaries, and I'll be stuck again...

Probably, unless you set up to use MinGW as your compiler or install the 
relevant MSVC goodies, so that they can be built from source.


>[1] This is particularly frustrating, as setuptools is pure Python, so
>why do I need a version-specific build? I don't with bdist_wininst....

One reason why is that setuptools configures its installation differently 
for different Python versions; there are entry points, for example, that 
are registered differently for Python 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5.  Some packages can 
have different dependencies, based on Python version too.  For example, a 
package needing ctypes for Python 2.3 or 2.4 shouldn't include the 
dependency when built for Python 2.5, as ctypes is in the stdlib there.