[Python-Dev] Refactoring installation schemes

[Tarek Ziadé]

Hello,

Since the addition of PEP 370, (per-user site packages), site.py and
distutils/command/install.py are *both* providing the various
installation directories for Python,
depending on the system and the Python version.

We have also started to discuss lately in various Mailing Lists the
addition of new schemes for IronPython and Jython, meaning that we
might add some more in both places.

I would like to suggest a simplification by adding a dedicated module
to manage these installation schemes in one single place in the
stdlib.

This new independant module would be used by site.py and distutils and
would also make it easier for third party code to work with these
schemes.
Of course this new module would be rather simple and not add any new
import statement to avoid any overhead when Python starts and loads
site.py

Regards
Tarek