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POWhy should I install Python packages into `~/.local`?
 

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  1. POWhy should I install Python packages into `~/.local`?
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    <h2>Background</h2> <ol> <li>I don't develop using OS X's system provided Python versions (on OS X 10.6 that's Python 2.5.4 and 2.6.1).</li> <li>I don't install anything in the site-packages directory for the OS provided versions of Python. (The only exception is Mercurial installed from a binary package, which installs two packages in the Python 2.6.1 site-packages directory.)</li> <li>I installed three versions of Python, all using the Mac OS X installer disk image: <ol> <li>Python 2.6.6</li> <li>Python 2.7</li> <li>Python 3.1.2</li> </ol></li> <li>I don't like polluting the site-packages directory for my Python installations. So I only install the following five base packages in the site-packages directory. For the actual method/commands used to install these, see <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4324558/">SO Question 4324558</a>. <ol> <li><a href="http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/EasyInstall" rel="nofollow noreferrer">setuptools/ez_setup</a></li> <li><a href="http://packages.python.org/distribute/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">distribute</a></li> <li><a href="http://pip.openplans.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pip</a></li> <li><a href="http://virtualenv.openplans.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">virtualenv</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.doughellmann.com/projects/virtualenvwrapper/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">virtualenvwrapper</a></li> </ol></li> <li>All other packages are installed in virtualenvs.</li> <li>I am the only user of this MacBook.</li> </ol> <h2>Questions</h2> <ol> <li>Given the above background, why should I install the five base packages in <code>~/.local</code>? Since I'm installing these base packages into the site-packages directories of Python distributions that I've installed, I'm isolated from the OS X's Python distributions. </li> <li>Using this method, should I be concerned about Glyph's comment that other things could potentially break (see his comment below)?</li> </ol> <p>Again, I'm only interested in where to install those five base packages.</p> <h2>Related Questions/Info</h2> <p>I'm asking because of <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/users/13564/glyph">Glyph</a>'s comment to <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4314376/python-egg-file/4314446#4314446">my answer</a> to <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4314376/">SO question 4314376</a>, which stated:</p> <blockquote> <p>NO. NEVER EVER do <code>sudo python setup.py install</code> whatever. Write a ~/.pydistutils.cfg that puts your pip installation into ~/.local or something. Especially files named <code>ez_setup.py</code> tend to suck down newer versions of things like setuptools and easy_install, which can potentially break other things on your operating system.</p> </blockquote> <p>Previously, I asked <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4324558/">What's the proper way to install pip, virtualenv, and distribute for Python?</a>. However, no one answered the "why" of using <code>~/.local</code>.</p>
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