[Distutils] macos support (weak?)

[Pete Shinners]

i've got some people doing MacOS testing for my extension
package. currently support is great under windows and unix.

i was under the impression python2.1 shipped with some 
distutils code that was ready to go for macos? but from the
reports i hear this is not the case?

unfortunately, i've got not mac to test this on, so it comes
to you all second hand. i'm hoping there's a mac user or two
in here who can lend some knowledge.

the first problem is that it appears distutils does not
find the default "site-packages" on its own?

distutils.error.DistUtilsPlatformError:  OK, where DO site-specific modules go on the Mac?

does mac have some sort of PYTHONHOME equivalent it can use to
find its home? certainly there must be something because python
can find all its own modules and packages. can distutils somehow
tap into this knowledge to save the installer from entering the
site-packages path when installing?


the second problem is a little more serious. my project is
using an external setup file to get all the extension compile flags.
the library directories are being sent with "-Llibrary/path/lib"
this works for windows and unix, but on macos it is creating 
absolute paths, not relative. so it looks like to get it working
the user needs something like -Lmacintosh hd/libs, but the space
is throwing things for a loop. does a backslash work before the
space? anyways, when given a relative path it is becoming
an absolute path 

lastly, and most important of all, it looks like the libraries
being passed in with "-l" are not even being sent through the XML
to codewarrior.


anyways, my guess is that this is all related to using the
external Setup file and loading it with read_setup_file(). is
that not really been used for macos stuff? if sending proper
Extension objects to the setup function is all thats needed then
i can workaround this pretty easy.

has anyone had any luck building distutils extensions on macos
when needing to link in extra libraries?