We've got ActiveState Python 2.6 installed on a Windows XP box, and I 
pulled down the latest archgenxml package (2.2) in order to get it 
running under this installation of Python.  I unpacked the tarball for 
the package and tried running `python setup.py build' but got an 
ImportError exception: "no module named setuptools."  So back to Google, 
where I find http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools, which says "[For 
Windows] install setuptools using the provided .exe installer."  I go 
down to the bottom of the page and I see that there is no .exe installer 
for Python 2.6.  All there is for that version of Python is 
setuptools-0.6c9-py2.6.egg.  How do I get this installed under 
ActiveState Python?  I get the impression from the references to "Python 
Eggs" on the setuptools page that setuptools is a utility for installing 
Python Eggs.  So we're supposed to use a utility that isn't installed 
yet to install that utility.  Now that ActiveState has officially thrown 
in the towel on ever bringing back its Python version of ppm, we're left 
with a pretty sad story as far as installing third-party Python packages 
in Windows.  I thought Perl was supposed to be the world in which the 
more ways to do a simple task, the better.  I would guess that there is 
a minority of Python users who know all there is to know about all the 
different ways there are to get Python packages installed, and for the 
rest of us it's just chaos.  Why doesn't ActiveState's Python (remember 
the slogan "batteries included"?) come with the tools needed to install 
third-party packages?  Have we stumbled into some messy political turf 
battle over installer philosophies, or is this just an oversight?

Thanks, and sorry for the rant, but this Achilles heel in Python is 
pretty frustrating.

-- 
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:bkline@[...].com

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