[python-win32] PYTHONPATH and .pth files under Windows XP

[Mark Hammond]

> PYTHONPATH and .pth files under Windows XP
>
> No matter what my PYTHONPATH is set to as a Enivorment
> Variable under Windows XP, the only time a .pth file is
> actually being read and used is when I dump it into my
> site-packages directory off my install location.

A quick scan of http://docs.python.org/lib/module-site.html shows that
Python doesn't promise to offer the behaviour you desire on any platform.

Check out site.py in the Python Lib directory, specifically
addsitepackages - that is just the code that implements the documented
behaviour, but it will at least give you insights into how you might be able
to exploit it.

An alternative is to have your code do:

  import site
  site.addsitedir(your_dir)

Which should cause any .pth files in your_dir to be picked up.

HTH,

Mark