MySQLdb install vs. "setuptools"

[John Nagle]

John Nagle wrote:
> 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.

    I tried this change on MySQLdb's "setup.py":

diff setup.py setup-nodistutils.py
5c5
< from setuptools import setup, Extension
---
 > from distutils.core import setup, Extension

The build then runs.  The resulting MySQLdb runs under the uninstalled
Python and connects to the database properly.

There's no need for "setuptools" here at all.  It just gets in the way.

				John Nagle