Why site-packages?

[Dan Stromberg]

Why is it that so much 3rd party python code gets installed to
site-packages?

Even for things that are almost certainly going to be used by a single
application?

Even for things you might only use once?

Even for things that might require one version for one app, and another
version for another app?

Why not stash an application's python modules in /usr/local/lib/[appname],
and stash a little frontend in /usr/local/bin that adds
/usr/local/lib/[appname] to sys.path?

Here's a thread on stackoverflow today asking why python starts up so
slowly, and making it clear that this is because so much stuff ends up in
site-packages:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11318028/is-it-safe-to-use-pythons-s-option

The response "Because that's where things are supposed to go" makes me ask
"Who made this decision and why?"
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