[Python-Dev] [Python-3000] Reminder: last alphas next Wednesday 07-May-2008

[M.-A. Lemburg]

On 2008-05-04 18:14, Christian Heimes wrote:
>> First, Skip, I *only* care about the default behavior.  There's already
>> a way to do it differently: PYTHONPATH.  So, Fred, I think what you're
>> arguing for is to drop this feature entirely.  Or is there some other
>> use for a new way to allow users to explicitly add something to
>> sys.path, aside from PYTHONPATH?  It seems that it would add more
>> complexity and I can't see what the value would be.
> 
> PYTHONPATH is lacking one feature which is important for lots of
> packages and setuptools. The directories in PYTHONPATH are just added to
> sys.path. But setuptools require a site package directory. Maybe a new
> env var PYTHONSITEPATH could solve the problem.

We don't need another setup variable for this. Just place a
well-known module into the site-packages/ directory and then
query it's __file__ attribute, e.g.

site-packages/site_packages.py

The module could even include a few helpers to query various
settings which apply to the site packages directory, e.g.

site_packages.get_dir()
site_packages.list_packages()
site_packages.list_modules()
etc.

>> As I've said a dozen times in this thread already, the feature I'd like
>> to get from a per-user installation location is that 'setup.py install',
>> or at least some completely canonical distutils incantation, should
>> work, by default, for non-root users; ideally non-administrators on
>> windows as well as non-root users on unixish platforms.
> 
> The implementation of my PEP provides a new option for install:
> 
> $ python setup.py install --user
> 
> Is it sufficient for you?

Just in case you don't know...

python setup.py install --home=~

will install to ~/lib/python

The problem is not getting the packages installed in a non-admin
location. It's about Python looking in a non-admin location per
default (as well as in the site-packages location).

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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