[Zope3-dev] Lets replace lib/python with python in CVS

Barry A. Warsaw barry@zope.com
Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:47:33 -0500


>>>>> "JF" == Jim Fulton <jim@zope.com> writes:

    JF> As part of the package move, lets's get rid of lib.  So, the
    JF> Zope CVS will have a top-level python directory that contains
    JF> the included package. When running from a CVS checkout, which
    JF> I want to be able to do, we will add python, ratyher than
    JF> lib/python to the Python path.

There's one use case to consider to the contrary.  I often have a
development tree of ZODB and a development tree of Zope2, and I want
to run Zope with my ZODB development tree, without having to pollute
my site-packages or play twisty games with PYTHONPATH.  Distutils
makes this really nice because I can just do something like:

    python setup.py install --home=/path/to/zope2

in ZODB and all the relevant files get installed in
/path/to/zope2/lib/python.  I initially disliked Zope's lib/python but
this does make things very convenient.

There are other distutils switches that can be used to install
packages into specific directories, but unlike with --home, there' sno
one that works for all files.  E.g. you can use --install-lib, but
there are certain things that won't install in the correct location.
I've found I've also had to use --install-purelib and --install-data
in some situations.

Please consider this use case when making the decision to get rid of
lib/python (or some part thereof).

-Barry