+1  A: 

Unfortunately, I'd say that overriding install command is the way to go.

This can be done easily, using custom distribution command. For example, see [1] http://svn.zope.org/Zope/branches/2.9/setup.py?rev=69978&view=auto

Almad  2009-06-16 21:55:44
thanks almad, good to see how zope does it
bwhitman  2009-06-17 18:15:12
+1  A: 

Your first question is a tough one given the multiplatform requirement. If it was just windows, you could use the post-installation script option to run a script to handle the libraries or just use a non-python tool such as NSIS. I'm not sure what else can be done other than Almad's suggestion.

For your second question, you might want to look into Paver.

DoxaLogos  2009-06-17 16:24:01
Thanks DoxaLogos. It may be the case that we have to just move to platform specific installers (NSIS, Packages on the mac, dkpg/apt for debian, etc.) It probably is not a horrible idea. But i was hoping for a pure python solution... may not be possible.
bwhitman  2009-06-17 18:16:18
Well, even if you use multiple package tools, I think you can automate their package creation with the likes of Paver. So, once you get everything set up intially, you can just run build script with Paver.
DoxaLogos  2009-06-17 18:40:28

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