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pythonsetuptools

How does Python setuptools work?

  • When I install something new with this tool, what changes in my file system?
  • Is it something like apt-get?
  • Do I have to setup any configuration file like makefile?

Thanks in advance.

Solution

  • From the EasyInstall documentation:

    By default, packages are installed to the running Python installation's site-packages directory, unless you provide the -d or --install-dir option to specify an alternative directory, or specify an alternate location using distutils configuration files. (See Configuration Files, below.)

    By default, any scripts included with the package are installed to the running Python installation's standard script installation location. However, if you specify an installation directory via the command line or a config file, then the default directory for installing scripts will be the same as the package installation directory, to ensure that the script will have access to the installed package. You can override this using the -s or --script-dir option.