Hi. I'm Art Haas, the developer of PythonCAD. About one month ago I'd received a number of e-mails describing a problem between Zope and PythonCAD due to both programs using the word 'Interface' as part of their paths to their code. When using Zope people would get odd errors as the PythonCAD 'Interface' directory was searched instead of Zope's. When PythonCAD is installed, a 'PythonCAD.pth' file gets added into Python's 'site-packages' directory, modifying the sys.path variable as seen below (and reformatted for e-mail) ... $ python
import sys sys.path ['', '/usr/lib/python23.zip', '/usr/lib/python2.3', '/usr/lib/python2.3/plat-linux2', '/usr/lib/python2.3/lib-tk', '/usr/lib/python2.3/lib-dynload', '/usr/local/lib/python2.3/site-packages', '/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages', '/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/Numeric', '/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/PythonCAD', '/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/gtk-2.0']
In the 'PythonCAD' directory there are two subdirectories - 'Interface' and 'Generic'. I'm preparing to make the next release of PythonCAD - the first one with initial printing support! - and I want to fix the program so that Zope and PythonCAD play well together. As I see it, one fix is to not install the 'PythonCAD.pth' file during PythonCAD's installation and adjust the various 'import' statements in the code. Another fix is to continue to have 'PythonCAD.pth' add the 'PythonCAD' directory to sys.path and add a directory below the 'PythonCAD' directory, then move 'Interface' and 'Generic' into that new directory. This choice also requires adjusting the various 'import' statements in the code, as well as some work in moving the files in Subversion. I'd like to get some suggestions for the Zope developers as for what they suggest to do. As both the Numeric and PyGTK packages adjust the sys.path variable, I'd like to keep 'PythonCAD' in there as well, though this choice probably means more work. As there is lots of Python expertise on this list, a few bits of wisdom from those in similar situations in the past would be welcomed. Thanks in advance. Art Haas P.S. I do not receive mail from the list, so please CC me in replies. I'll also check the list archives for postings. -- Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. -Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822