local support (original) (raw)

Generally, /usr/local support needs to be added for
python. Many distributions already do this, either
partially or completely, causing inconsistencies
between Python installations among Linux
distributions.

There should be a site-packages directory
in /usr/local,
probably /usr/local/lib/python/site-packages. Just
like in /usr, it'll need the appropriate symlinks.
x86_64 bit issues also need to be taken into account,
so /usr/local/lib64/python2.4/site-packages should be
the local site-packages directory for Python 2.4.x on
a x86_64 machine.

The reasons for these are numerous. $PATH
contains /usr/local/bin, $GTK_PATH
contains /usr/local, $MANPATH
contains /usr/local/share/man, and $PKG_CONFIG_PATH
contains /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig. Adding a
site-packages directory in /usr/local will simply
fill in the hole in the Python configuration.

As the FHS points out, /usr may very well be mounted
read-only for security purposes. /usr/local should
be used instead, especially for non-system / testing
software.

Distutils should install, by default, in
the site-packages directory in /usr/local described
in part (1). This will simply mimic the auto(conf| make|etc.) default installation path (isn't the
default installation path for Python
itself /usr/local?).

For simplicity and consistency's sake, the default
installation path for distutils should be the site-packages directory in /usr/local.

If someone would point me in the right direction, I will gladly write the patch myself.

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I fail to see the bug in Python here. In the default configuration, Python does use site-packages in /usr/local, and distutils does install into /usr/local. So it appears that Python already does what you say you want.

Apparently, you are talking about Linux here. However, even on Linux, Python installs to /usr/local by default. If Linux distributors chose to install it into /usr, then why can't they also arrange these other changes?

To get /usr/local into sys.path, either edit site.py, or add a file sitecustomize.py. At compile time, you can also edit Modules/Setup[.local] to set SITEPATH.

To change the default installation directories, add a distutils.cfg into the distutils directory, or edit the unix_prefix scheme in command/install.py

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Thanks for the response loewis!

I apologize for mis-construing how Python is configured.
It's easy to do because few compile their own Python; most just use the binary for their distribution.

Based on your response, then yes, Python already does what I want, and the bug is in the packaging of my distribution--SuSE 10.0 x86_64. For those interested in following this, the SuSE bug this relates to is: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=149809