Organizing Python

[Dave LeBlanc]

What seems to be a reasonably trivial question to me, but i've not
been able to find an answer in any of the Python doc i've looked at.

Is there a convention for installing 3rd party add-on modules into a
Python installation so that:
	
	It's easy to update Python without reinstalling all the extras

	One doesn't have to have a mile-long PYTHONPATH

I've seen some mention of packages and local/packages directories wrt
to Linux installations, but I'm looking for a Windows solution.

I think part of why I have to ask this question is not quite
understanding how PYTHONPATH and import works. When you say "import
foo", then foo is taken to be a file and if you say "from foo import
bar", then foo is taken to be a directory? Would this mean that one
would have to have to have both foo and foo's parent directory in
PYTHONPATH?

Apologies if this seems like a trivial question; i'd just like to
learn how to do things pythonically.

CC to my email appreciated: whisper at oz.net

Regards,

Dave LeBlanc