Egg problem (~/.python-eggs)

[Mike Orr]

I'm trying to install a program that uses Durus on a server.  It
appears that if a Python program uses eggs, it creates a
~/.python-eggs/ directory, so the home directory must be writeable.
This conflicts with server environments where you want to run a daemon
with minimum privileges.  Second, it appears to use the real user ID
rather than the effective user ID to choose the home directory.  In
this case I'm trying to use start-stop-daemon on Linux to start my
Python program, switching from user 'root' to user 'apache'.

# start-stop-daemon --start --chuid apache:apache --make-pidfile
--pidfile /var/run/cameo.pid --exec
/var/www/apps/cameo/bin/cameo_server.py --
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/www/apps/cameo/bin/cameo_server.py", line 3, in ?
    from durus.client_storage import ClientStorage
  File "build/bdist.linux-i686/egg/durus/client_storage.py", line 7, in
?
  File "build/bdist.linux-i686/egg/durus/serialize.py", line 9, in ?
  File "build/bdist.linux-i686/egg/durus/persistent.py", line 15, in ?
  File "build/bdist.linux-i686/egg/durus/_persistent.py", line 7, in ?
  File "build/bdist.linux-i686/egg/durus/_persistent.py", line 4, in
__bootstrap__
  File
"/usr/local/lib/python2.4/setuptools-0.6a10-py2.4.egg/pkg_resources.py",
line 799, in resource_filename
    return get_provider(package_or_requirement).get_resource_filename(
  File
"/usr/local/lib/python2.4/setuptools-0.6a10-py2.4.egg/pkg_resources.py",
line 1187, in get_resource_filename
    self._extract_resource(manager, self._eager_to_zip(name))
  File
"/usr/local/lib/python2.4/setuptools-0.6a10-py2.4.egg/pkg_resources.py",
line 1204, in _extract_resource
    real_path = manager.get_cache_path(self.egg_name,
self._parts(zip_path))
  File
"/usr/local/lib/python2.4/setuptools-0.6a10-py2.4.egg/pkg_resources.py",
line 836, in get_cache_path
    ensure_directory(target_path)
  File
"/usr/local/lib/python2.4/setuptools-0.6a10-py2.4.egg/pkg_resources.py",
line 2301, in ensure_directory
    os.makedirs(dirname)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/os.py", line 156, in makedirs
    makedirs(head, mode)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/os.py", line 156, in makedirs
    makedirs(head, mode)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/os.py", line 159, in makedirs
    mkdir(name, mode)
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/root/.python-eggs'


Can I make it use a different eggs directory?  Any other idea how to
install a program using eggs on a server?

BTW, Python is Gentoo's /usr/bin/python 2.4.2.  The eggs are installed
in /usr/local/lib/python2.4 to prevent them from mixing with Gentoo
packages in /usr/lib.  

--Mike <sluggoster at gmail.com>