Running Virtualenv with a custom distlib?

[dieter]

haraldnordgren at gmail.com writes:

> I want to do some development on `distlib`, and in the process run the code via `virtualenv` which has distlib as a dependency.
>
> That is, not run the process inside a virtualenv, but run virtualenv's code using a custom dependency. What are the steps I need to go through to achieve this?

I would try to run "virtualenv" in a virtual environment with a "distlib"
seemingly to fulfill the "virtualenv" requirements but in fact be under
your control (e.g. set up via "python setup.py develop").

I do not know whether the virtual environment mentioned above can
be set up via "virtualenv" itself (that would be the easiest thing).
If not, I would install "python" from source and tweak its "site-packages"
as necessary.