sys.path in python3.3

[Nicholas Cole]

Dear List,

In all previous versions of python, I've been able to install packages
into the path:

~/Library/Python/$py_version_short/site-packages

but in the rc builds of python 3.3 this is no longer part of sys.path.

Before I go hacking the install, is there a reason that this path was
removed? Is there a recommended way to get it back, or is this a
gentle way of pushing us all to use virtualenv rather than installing
user-specific packages?

Best wishes,

Nicholas

 

[Hans Mulder]

Dear List,

In all previous versions of python, I've been able to install packages
into the path:

~/Library/Python/$py_version_short/site-packages

but in the rc builds of python 3.3 this is no longer part of sys.path.

It has been changed to

~/Library/Python/$py_version_short/lib/python/site-packages

You can find the path it's looking for in site.USER_SITE

Before I go hacking the install, is there a reason that this path was
removed? Is there a recommended way to get it back, or is this a
gentle way of pushing us all to use virtualenv rather than installing
user-specific packages?

I don't know why it was changed.

It would be nice if there were some magic code you could use
for "install_lib" in your .pydistutils.cfg file that worked
in both 3.2 and 3.3.

-- HansM

 

[Ned Deily]

On 26/08/12 20:47:34, Nicholas Cole wrote:
It has been changed to

~/Library/Python/$py_version_short/lib/python/site-packages

You can find the path it's looking for in site.USER_SITE

That is correct.

It would be nice if there were some magic code you could use
for "install_lib" in your .pydistutils.cfg file that worked
in both 3.2 and 3.3.

As I explained in my reply that overlapped with yours, I believe you
will find that 3.2 and 3.3 behave the same. The difference is with 3.1
(which is no longer supported); likewise, the same change occurred in
2.7. So all of the current actively supported released behave the same
way. That's not much help if you need to use 2.6 or 3.1.

 

[Nicholas Cole]

That is correct.


As I explained in my reply that overlapped with yours, I believe you
will find that 3.2 and 3.3 behave the same. The difference is with 3.1
(which is no longer supported); likewise, the same change occurred in
2.7. So all of the current actively supported released behave the same
way. That's not much help if you need to use 2.6 or 3.1.

Dear Hans and Ned,

Thank you both for your answers, and Ned, thank you especially for
answering at such length.

I do love the things that are "documented if you know where to look."
I'm by no means a stranger to python's documentation, but I am sure
that I would never, ever have found it. Now that I come to think of
it, I think I probably hit this when I first had a look at 2.7, put
in a sym-link and forgot all about it. I suppose that now that 2.7 is
the default on OS X, I suppose it is time to move to the correct
directory properly.

Very best wishes,

Nicholas