Package problem

[A. Cavallo]

> > It is solved in other languages.. for example perl.. and delphi
> I don't know much about perl, and even less about delphi, but I am
> pretty sure it does not solve the problem of overwriting files from a
> package with an installation outside the control of the package
> manager.

On a sytem a possible solution would be:

 /usr/lib/python2.5/site-package/foobar <- The os managed one
 /usr/lib/python2.5/site-package/foobar-2.0 <- The alternatives
 /usr/lib/python2.5/site-package/foobar-2.1 

and using something (in the python interpreter)

import foobar (imports the foobar)
import foobar requires >= 2.1 (imports foobar 2.1 or above)

>
> There is no simple solution to the following situation:
>    - install setuptools from ubuntu -> files get into /usr
> (/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages, etc...)

setuptools is the problem;) It tries to do too many things imho.

> > Fight it ??? I didn't even get a python interpreter with my operating
> > system...

You could try:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/cavallo71:/python-opt/

This is a python interpreter installed under /opt/opt-python-2.7a0.
All you have to do is sourcing /opt/opt-python-2.7a0/opt-python-env.sh
from a shell and start using the python 2.7 (it's directly from the svn 
trunk).

If you download a python module to generate the rpm for it all you have to do 
is:
$> . /opt/opt-python-2.7a0/opt-python-env.sh
$> python setup.py bdist_rpm 

It will generate a package rpm installable under /opt/python-2.7a0 and won't 
interfere with the system.

I hope this will help,
Regards,
Antonio