[Pythonmac-SIG] RE: Localized project folder and .pth?

[Bob Ippolito]

On Mar 31, 2005, at 11:32 PM, Lee Cullens wrote:

> OS X 10.3.8  with the Mac Python add ons (and new to both Mac and  
> Python)
>
> To keep a learning project together I'm creating my module files in a  
> folder within my account.  Not using any fancy IDE yet I brought up  
> PythonIDE and (of course) the first import of one of my modules  
> failed.  Having read about a .pth file I created a one liner with a  
> full path to my learning project folder and then looked around for  
> where to put it.  I noticed other .pth files in /Library/Python/2.3 so  
> I put it there and now the imports of my modules work.
>
> The point here is though this worked, is this the correct (normally  
> accepted) way to do such.  That is, keeping a project's "unique"  
> modules in an isolated folder (or folder structure), creating a .pth  
> file to such and placing that file in /Library/Python/2.3?

Yes it's a perfectly good way to do it.  I would go as far as saying  
the best way of doing it, especially on Mac OS X.

If you want to localize this to your specific account,  
~/Library/Python/2.3/site-packages is also a respected location for  
doing it (you will probably need to create this folder).  When using  
the Python 2.4.1 build I would use ~/Library/Python/2.4/site-packages  
-- the normal site-packages path is deep within the framework.

The tilde (~) means your home directory, if you're not familiar with  
the unix terminology.  Also note that Finder's cmd-shift-G "Go to  
folder..." dialog also knows about tilde.

> If someone has already elaborated on this subject then please just  
> point me at the piece.

http://bob.pythonmac.org/archives/2005/02/06/using-pth-files-for- 
python-development/

If you poke around elsewhere on my blog, and on  
http://pythonmac.org/wiki/ (particularly the FAQ) you should find some  
interesting stuff...

-bob