setuptools catch 22

M

Mac

We've got ActiveState Python 2.6 installed on a Windows XP box, and I
pulled down the latest archgenxml package (2.2) in order to get it
running under this installation of Python. I unpacked the tarball for
the package and tried running `python setup.py build' but got an
ImportError exception: "no module named setuptools." So back to
Google, where I find http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools, which
says "[For Windows] install setuptools using the provided .exe
installer." I go down to the bottom of the page and I see that there
is no .exe installer for Python 2.6. All there is for that version of
Python is setuptools-0.6c9-py2.6.egg. I get the impression from the
references to "Python Eggs" on the setuptools page that setuptools is
a utility for installing Python Eggs. So we're supposed to use a
utility that isn't installed yet to install that utility? Does anyone
else understand how lame this is? From where I stand, the story for
installation of third-party packages in Python is a sad, confused
mess, and the Achilles heel of a language of which in all other
respects I think very highly.
 
K

Kay Schluehr

We've got ActiveState Python 2.6 installed on a Windows XP box, and I
pulled down the latest archgenxml package (2.2) in order to get it
running under this installation of Python.  I unpacked the tarball for
the package and tried running `python setup.py build' but got an
ImportError exception: "no module named setuptools."  So back to
Google, where I findhttp://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools, which
says "[For Windows] install setuptools using the provided .exe
installer."  I go down to the bottom of the page and I see that there
is no .exe installer for Python 2.6.  All there is for that version of
Python is setuptools-0.6c9-py2.6.egg.  I get the impression from the
references to "Python Eggs" on the setuptools page that setuptools is
a utility for installing Python Eggs.  So we're supposed to use a
utility that isn't installed yet to install that utility?  Does anyone
else understand how lame this is?  

Yes, but there is a known workaround: just download the mantioned
setuptools egg and unpack it - it's basically just a zipped python
package - and place it at your PYTHONPATH. Then it will also be found
by every tool that imports setuptools.
 
D

Diez B. Roggisch

Mac said:
We've got ActiveState Python 2.6 installed on a Windows XP box, and I
pulled down the latest archgenxml package (2.2) in order to get it
running under this installation of Python. I unpacked the tarball for
the package and tried running `python setup.py build' but got an
ImportError exception: "no module named setuptools." So back to
Google, where I find http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools, which
says "[For Windows] install setuptools using the provided .exe
installer." I go down to the bottom of the page and I see that there
is no .exe installer for Python 2.6. All there is for that version of
Python is setuptools-0.6c9-py2.6.egg. I get the impression from the
references to "Python Eggs" on the setuptools page that setuptools is
a utility for installing Python Eggs. So we're supposed to use a
utility that isn't installed yet to install that utility? Does anyone
else understand how lame this is? From where I stand, the story for
installation of third-party packages in Python is a sad, confused
mess, and the Achilles heel of a language of which in all other
respects I think very highly.


googling "setuptools bootstrap" yields this as first link:

http://peak.telecommunity.com/dist/ez_setup.py

Download that, and run "python ez_setup.py". That's it.


Diez
 
M

Mac

Yes, but there is a known workaround: ....

Thanks, Kay. Of course, the workaround would be better known if the
setuptools web page had those instructions instead of "install using
the [non-existent] .exe file." :)
 
M

Martin v. Löwis

Thanks, Kay. Of course, the workaround would be better known if the
setuptools web page had those instructions instead of "install using
the [non-existent] .exe file." :)

The instructions were written before Python 2.6 was released. They
haven't be updated since.

Regards,
Martin
 

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