Changing the directory where .pyc files are created

Question

Is there a way to change the directory where .pyc file are created by python interpreter ? I saw two PEPs about that subject (0304 and 3147), but none seems to be implemented in the default interpreter (I'm working with python3).

Did I miss something ?

Thanks !

Answer 1

No, you didn't miss anything.

The .pyc files are always created at the location of the `.py file.

There are some really old patches around to disable the .pyc files completely though. But... why do you need to?

Answer 2

There's no way to change where the .pyc files go. Python 3.2 implements the __pycache__ scheme whereby all the .pyc files go into a directory named __pycache__. Python 3.2 alpha 1 is available now if you really need to keep your directories clean.

Until 3.2 is released, configure as many tools as you can to ignore the .pyc files.