Make SetupTools/easy_install aware of installed Debian Packages?

Question

Hi,

I'm installing an egg with easy_install which requires ruledispatch. It isn't available in PyPI, and when I use PEAK's version it FTBFS. There is, however, a python-dispatch package which provides the same functionality as ruledispatch. How can I get easy_install to stop trying to install ruledispatch, and to allow it to recognize that ruledispatch is already installed as python-ruledispatch?

Running Debian etch with Python 2.4

Answer 1

The path least fiddly is likely:

1. easy_install --no-deps
2. Look at the egginfo of what you just installed
3. Install all dependencies except ruledispatch by hand
4. Optionally, prod the people responsible to list their stuff on pypi / not have dependencies that the package installer can't possibly satisfy / use dependency_links / use a custom package index / something.

If the python-ruledispatch from the .deb is the same as the egg depends on or compatible, this should work.