[Python-Dev] Order that site-packages is added to sys.path

[Jeremy Hylton]

>>>>> "BAW" == Barry A Warsaw <barry@zope.com> writes:

  BAW> distutils's --root option could be used to specific a different
  BAW> install directory than site-packages right?  So conceivably
  BAW> site.py could prepend some directory onto sys.path, and
  BAW> distutils could be coaxed into installing there rather than
  BAW> site-packages.  This might provide a principled way to override
  BAW> Python's standard library when you're really sure that's what
  BAW> you want to do.

Why don't you use "--root /usr/local/lib/python2.2" and *really*
override the standard library?  

It seems fragile to extend Python with yet more directories to search
in a special order so that the interpreter picks up the correct copy
of somemodule.py from among the four or five copies installed on the
system and on the path.

Jeremy