MySQLdb install vs. "setuptools"

[David Cournapeau]

On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 3:56 PM, John Nagle <nagle at animats.com> wrote:
>   MySQLdb won't install as non-root on Python 2.6 because
> its "setup.py" file requires "setuptools".  "setuptools",
> unlike "distutils", isn't part of the Python 2.6 distribution.
>
>   IMPORTANT PACKAGES SHOULD NOT USE "setuptools".  Use the
> standard "distutils".  "setuptools" and "eggs" create more
> problems than they solve.  "setuptools" has many built-in
> assumptions about where things are supposed to be, and they're
> usually wrong.

Yes, setuptools is often a pain.

The magic incantation you want is something like python setup.py
install --prefix=someprefix --single-version-externally-managed
--record=/dev/null. I myself have a small script which detects whether
setup.py uses setuptools or not, and add the necessary options in
setuptools case for a sane behavior.

David