newbie question: On installation of additional packages to Python

[Steve Holden]

Gabriel Genellina wrote:
> En Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:36:34 -0200, Nasser Abbasi <nma at 12000.org> escribió:
> 
>> I am running on windowz. I have downloaded and installed 2.5.1 Python.
>>
>> my question is on installing additional packages.
>>
>> What is the easiest way to do that?  I read about python 'eggs' (like jar
>> files for Java), and easyInstall script, and such.
> 
> Once you have setuptools installed, it's as easy as executing:  
> easy_install packagename
> The alternative is to find and download the package yourself, unzip in a  
> temporary directory, and execute: setup.py install
> For most packages that's all that is required.
> 
>> Is there some automated way to install Python packages? a  
>> manual/document I
>> could read that describes step by step how to do that? Browsing the
>> documentation, there does not seem to be something specific there (other
>> than saying download this tar file and install it).
>>
>> I like how one can install additional packages in 'R' . In 'R' one can do
>> all that from the user interface for R by a pull-down menu, then one  
>> selects
>> a mirror site, then one can see all the packages available, then select  
>> the
>> package to download, and the rest is done automatically. (The package is
>> downloaded, installed, etc...)
> 
> That's mainly what easy_install does, plus dependency checking.
> 
So, the only step you are missing is how to install setuptools. This is 
simplicity itself:

  1. In your web browser visit

     http://peak.telecommunity.com/dist/ez_setup.py

  2. Save the Python. In Internet Explorer use "File | Save As", in
     Firefox use "File | Save Page As"

  3. Run it from the command line (or possibly by double-clicking
     it in an explorer window, never tried that)

You should now be able to run easy_install from the command line and 
install packages from the usual suspects.

regards
  Steve

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Steve Holden        +1 571 484 6266   +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC              http://www.holdenweb.com/