MySQLdb install vs. "setuptools"

[John Nagle]

David Cournapeau wrote:
> 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

     The "setup.py" file for MySQLdb has, as its first Python
line, "from setuptools import ...".  No combination of options will
get around that.

				John Nagle