Cleaning Python modules an have fresh start Mac OS X

Question

I am not a total newbie but I am trying to install modules for quite a long time and at this point i would like to have a fresh start and install python and all the modules I ne

Answer 1

Buildout and virtualenv should be what you are looking for.

Buildout helps you configure a python installation and virtualenv allows you to isolate multiple different configurations from each other.

Here's a nice blog post explaining how to use them together.

Also, see this other question: Buildout and Virtualenv

Answer 2

You can safely install an up-to-date Python 2 and/or Python 3 on OS X using the python.org installers here. They will coexist with any other Pythons you have installed or that were shipped by Apple with OS X. To install packages, for each Python instance first install Distribute which will install a version-specific easy_install command, i.e. easy_install-2.7 or easy_install-3.2. Many people prefer to use pip to manage packages; you can use easy_install to install a version-specific copy of it. If you want something fancier, you could also install virtualenv but, with the isolation provided by Python framework builds on OS X, that isn't as necessary as on most other platforms.

Answer 3

• Is there a way to install all the modules in the correct place?

  Download and untar/gunzip/etc the module source (Most of the modules ares available in gzip form at http://pypi.python.org/pypi), then run configure with --prefix set to the same thing for every install:

      [ 11:06 jon@hozbox.com ~ ]$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
  

  /usr/local is usually the default, but it doesn't hurt to specify it and will ensure that every module you install will be placed in /usr/local/lib/python/...

• Is there a good step-by-step description on how installing modules works?

  The Python website has a great page called: Installing Python Modules

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http://pypi.python.org/pypi
http://docs.python.org/install/index.html