pypa / pypa/setuptools

easy_install installation location not controlled by --prefix

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Description

Hi, Spack developer here.

One of our users noticed that when setuptools is installed, it tries to install its easy_install.py file to the site-packages directory of the Python installation, even though we explicitly provide an alternate --prefix to install to. This is particularly a problem for users who use a system Python with Spack that they don't have install permissions to. Is there some other way to tell easy_install.py where to install to besides the --prefix option of setup.py install? See https://github.com/spack/spack/issues/13738 and https://github.com/spack/spack/issues/13955 for the original issues.

@LDAmorim @ax3l

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
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Research direction

Start by tracing how setup.py install invokes easy_install.py and how the --prefix option is handled. Reproduce the installation with an alternate prefix, then verify that easy_install.py is placed under that prefix rather than the system Python site-packages directory.

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Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
build-system
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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