Python site-packages permission denied?

[Chris Rebert]

On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Shane Neeley <shane.neeley at gmail.com> wrote:
> What do I need to do to successfully install a package onto python so that I can use it as a module?
>
> I have tried in terminal in the correct directory "python2.7 ./setup.py install" but it says permission denied.
>
> Shanes-MacBook-Pro:seisen-urllib2_file-cf4c4c8 chimpsarehungry$ python2.7.1 ./setup.py install
> -bash: python2.7.1: command not found
> Shanes-MacBook-Pro:seisen-urllib2_file-cf4c4c8 chimpsarehungry$ python ./setup.py install
> running install
> running build
> running build_py
> running install_lib
> copying build/lib/urllib2_file.py -> /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages
> error: /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/urllib2_file.py: Permission denied
> Shanes-MacBook-Pro:seisen-urllib2_file-cf4c4c8 chimpsarehungry$

You generally shouldn't mess with Mac OS X's system copies of Python.
Typically, one installs a separate copy using MacPorts, Fink, or
whatever, and uses that instead.
In any case, you generally need to `sudo` when installing stuff system-wide.

Cheers,
Chris