[Python-ideas] Add a command line option to adjust sys.path? (was Re: Add a site.cfg to keep a persistent list of paths)

[Ron Adam]

On 10/23/2010 09:21 AM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 2:55 PM, Scott Dial
> <scott+python-ideas at scottdial.com>  wrote:
>> On 10/21/2010 2:43 AM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
>>> This idea is only aimed at developers. To run an actual Python
>>> application that needs additional modules, either install it properly
>>> or put it in a zipfile or directory, put a __main__.py at the top
>>> level and just run the zipfile/directory directly.
>>
>> If this is only aimed at developers, then those developers why isn't,
>>
>> PYTHONPATH="versionA:${PYTHONPATH}" python run_tests.py
>> PYTHONPATH="versionB:${PYTHONPATH}" python run_tests.py
>>
>> , completely and utterly sufficient for the job.
>
> Without the addition of the ability to supply a .pth file instead, I
> would tend to agree with you. There's a reason I'd never actually made
> the suggestion before, despite first thinking of it ages ago.
> (Although, I'll also point out that your suggestion doesn't work on
> Windows, which has its own idiosyncratic way of dealing with
> environment variables).
>
> The proposed command line switch would also be compatible with -E,
> which is *not* the case for any approach based on modifying
> PYTHONPATH.

When you say "developers", do you mean developers of python, or developers 
with python?  I presumed the later.

Ron