MySQLdb install vs. "setuptools"

[John Nagle]

Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> Really, this shouldn't happen if you really are using a
> non-root version of Python:
> 
>>      [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 
>> '/usr/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/test-easy-install-22015.write-test'
> 
> I don't think setuptools is dumb enough to hardcode things like
> "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/", so the error is probably yours here.
> Perhaps you should double-check you did everything fine before posting
> such a rant.
> 
> Of course, if by "freshly-built version of Python", you mean you didn't
> run "make install" in any way, then it's your problem. Give
> "./configure" an appropriate non-root prefix and don't forget to run
> "make install" at the end.

     Actually, a "built" but "uninstalled" Python works fine.  If it
didn't, "make test" wouldn't work. "sys.path" correctly points to the
library directories created during "build".

     On the other hand, options to "./configure" apparently don't work
right in Python 2.6 through 3.x.  "--libdir" and "--bindir" don't actually
do anything.  See "http://bugs.python.org/issue858809" (an open bug).  So custom
"configure" is currently broken.

     The real problem here remains the unnecessary use of "setuptools".
It's Debian distro policy not to use "setuptools":

http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/python-policy/ap-packaging_tools.html

  Also read  "Setuptools is not a decent software package management".

     http://workaround.org/easy-install-debian

The fundamental problem is that "setuptools" is more than an installer but
less than a widely-supported system-wide package manager like "yum".

  Now, how to get the dependency on "setuptools" out of MySQLdb?

				John Nagle