Why does "python setup.py sdist" create unwanted "PROJECT-egg.info" in project root directory?

Question

When I run

  python setup.py sdist

it creates an sdist in my ./dist directory. This includes a "PROJECT-egg.info" file in the zip inside my "dist" folder, which I don't use, but it doesn't hurt me, so I just ignore it.

My question is why does it also create a "PROJECT-egg.info" folder in my project root directory? Can I make it stop creating this? If not, can I just delete it immediately after creating the sdist?

I'm using the 'setup' function imported from setuptools. WindowsXP, Python2.7, Setuptools 0.6c11, Distribute 0.6.14.

My setup config looks like:

{'author': 'Jonathan Hartley',
 'author_email': '[email protected]',
 'classifiers': ['Development Status :: 1 - Planning',
                 'Intended Audience :: Developers',
                 'License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License',
                 'Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows',
                 'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7'],
 'console': [{'script': 'demo.py'}],
 'data_files': [('Microsoft.VC90.CRT',
                 ['..\\lib\\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.manifest',
                  '..\\lib\\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\\msvcr90.dll'])],
 'description': 'Utilities for games and OpenGL graphics, built around Pyglet.\n',
 'keywords': '',
 'license': 'BSD',
 'long_description': "blah blah blah",
 'name': 'pygpen',
 'options': {'py2exe': {'ascii': True,
                        'bundle_files': 1,
                        'dist_dir': 'dist/pygpen-0.1-windows',
                        'dll_excludes': [],
                        'excludes': ['_imaging_gif',
                                     '_scproxy',
                                     'clr',
                                     'dummy.Process',
                                     'email',
                                     'email.base64mime',
                                     'email.utils',
                                     'email.Utils',
                                     'ICCProfile',
                                     'Image',
                                     'IronPythonConsole',
                                     'modes.editingmodes',
                                     'startup',
                                     'System',
                                     'System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard',
                                     '_hashlib',
                                     '_imaging',
                                     '_multiprocessing',
                                     '_ssl',
                                     '_socket',
                                     'bz2',
                                     'pyexpat',
                                     'pyreadline',
                                     'select',
                                     'win32api',
                                     'win32pipe',
                                     'calendar',
                                     'cookielib',
                                     'difflib',
                                     'doctest',
                                     'locale',
                                     'optparse',
                                     'pdb',
                                     'pickle',
                                     'pyglet.window.xlib',
                                     'pyglet.window.carbon',
                                     'pyglet.window.carbon.constants',
                                     'pyglet.window.carbon.types',
                                     'subprocess',
                                     'tarfile',
                                     'threading',
                                     'unittest',
                                     'urllib',
                                     'urllib2',
                                     'win32con',
                                     'zipfile'],
                        'optimize': 2}},
 'packages': ['pygpen'],
 'scripts': ['demo.py'],
 'url': 'http://code.google.com/p/edpath/',
 'version': '0.1',
 'zipfile': None}

Answer 1

This directory is created intentionally as part of the build process for a source distribution. A little gander at the developer guide for setuptools gives you a hint as to why:

But, be sure to ignore any part of the distutils documentation that deals with MANIFEST or how it's generated from MANIFEST.in; setuptools shields you from these issues and doesn't work the same way in any case. Unlike the distutils, setuptools regenerates the source distribution manifest file every time you build a source distribution, and it builds it inside the project's .egg-info directory, out of the way of your main project directory. You therefore need not worry about whether it is up-to-date or not.

You may safely delete the directory after your build has completed.