[IPython-dev] Weird PYTHONPATH, etc. issue

[Thomas Spura]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 2:08 AM, Fernando Perez <fperez.net at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 1:35 PM, David Warde-Farley
> <d.warde.farley at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Great, and setuptools path mangling means that all that garbage is
>> also added *before* whatever's added by $PYTHONPATH, so I can't put
>> ~/src/ipython at the front of the PYTHONPATH to fix it.
>>
>> Thanks a lot, setuptools. So am I cooked?
>
> Mmh, that's weird: in the system we were, the usercustomize did happen
> after the setuptools nonsense, so we were able to work around that.
>
> Setuptools is simply an abomination, period.  It breaks fundamental
> constructs of how python is supposed to work and makes certain things
> that are defined in the design of Python impossible.  It's a shame
> that it's so widely used, and this is why in ipython we have a strict
> policy of avoiding its use as much as possible.
>
> I can only suggest one of two ugly solutions:
>
> - patch your startup scripts for any tool you want
> - patch the python call itself: put ~/.local/bin/python to be your own
> python script that fixes sys.path for you, and then executes whatever
> else was in sys.argv.

- install anything into a virtualenv instead of some ~/.local/ stuff.

I never had a problem with this setup so far, unless you count the
circumvention of the sysadmin a problem...
I think it's easier to install anything I need in userspace _again_
and you can be sure, that it's consistent and working, but a small
overhead is added of course.

Greetings,
    Tom