Preferred check-out location(s)

[gsever]

Here is the replica of my message that was posted on pythonxy group.

Hello,

Sometimes, for testing purposes or just out of my curiosity I prefer
fetching source codes from repositories and do a manual installation
instead of setting up the latest stable versions of some python tools.

For example; ipython (http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/).

I have checked out it using the recommended version controlling system
which is bazaar and successfully integrated it into my system. (By the
way I should note that I am doing these things in linux)

My questions are should I checkout the sources into /usr/lib/
python2.5/
site-packages by running "bzr branch lp:ipython" and make the
installation directly from there or create a folder in my home
directory and apply these steps there? Which way is better and more
preferred?

Also, after I installed the newest ipython I have not been able to
access the old copy. What happens to the old files? Is only the
ipython executable in /usr/bin/ipython replaced by the new one or
else?

Thank you for your time.

Gökhan SEVER

[Claude]

Hi gokhan,

I'm not a programing guru, but it seems to me that bazzar, cvs, or
other checking
*replace* the old installation.
And doing that for some packages into an operational distribution
is I think, the best way to get things very unstable *very
quickly*...

It is exactly the same result if you mix some intrepid packages with
hardy ones.
Any package manager prevents you doing these hazardous experiences.
Even more, do not mix some Debian distribution packages with an Ubuntu
installation

In conclusion, test apart !
Packages are generally installed in /usr
Test yours either in /usr/local or in your home dir , but do not mix.
Also installing existing packages offers the opportunity of removing
them, if you
do things by hands, it is much more tricky to undo...

Hope this helps

Claude

[Philipp Lies]

Hi,

in addition to Claude I would recommend you using the following approach:

When you install something from source you usually have to run a
configure script. You can tell this script where to install (see
--prefix=/path/to/somewhere argument) because by default it installs as
default application so all the old applications are removed.
So if you want to check out different versions make a folder, e.g.
/opt/development/, where you install the new version
./configure --prefix=/opt/development
then after 'make install' there will be a folder /opt/development/bin
where the new ipython will be.

This works also for python modules. I, for example, use such a private
folder to use numpy 1.1 on hardy, since numpy 1.0.4 is the latest
version for hardy and I don't want to make the system potentially
unstable. See PYTHONPATH environment variable for instructions on that.

Cheers

Philipp

[gsever]

Thanks for the input,

I have not noticed setup.cfg scripts, this will be helpful a lot.