Have I broken my installation?

[Erik Max Francis]

Matt Mower wrote:

> I made one small adjustment, specifying the --prefix=/opt/python
> option to put PyXML in the same directory as Python 2.2.

Well, that's your problem right there.  Note the symptomology of what
Martin von Loewis asked you to test -- it prints different things for
your interactive usage and the CGI script.

> My entire Python developing experience runs to about an afternoons
> worth so I have no idea why PyXML isn't working or isn't being found.

That's because the problem you're running into here is a difference in
environment between you running the program in your interactive shell
and Apache running it as nobody.  It's a general Unix issue, not
specific to Python.

> Can you suggest anything?

The problem is that you've installed PyXML in /opt/python, which is a
nonstandard place -- though that isn't in and of itself wrong if you
know what you're doing.  You've obviously adjusted your interactive
environment to look in /opt/python, since you're running the scripts
without problems locally, but CGI scripts do not run in your
environment, and so aren't seeing what you've installed in /opt/python,
since that is a nonstandard place.  For a quick remedy, add something
like this:

	import sys
	sys.path.append('/opt/python')

to the top of your script.  A more permanent solution would involve
adding it to /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site.py.

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