Workaround for distutils bug in Ubuntu/Debian's Python3 versions

[ferrouswheel]

This will probably mean a lot of PYTHONPATH munging can be avoided, as a result there may be docs and cmake test config that need to be cleaned up.

Fixes #1782

Should be merged with the OpenCog PR to avoid confusion - I'll link it to this one.

[linas]

looks reasonable to me.

[linas]

@vsbogd and @stellarspot are the ones who are the most impacted by the python subsystem. They need to figure this stuff out...

[vsbogd]

Change looks good to me, it is nice idea to workaround it.
Only thing which is suspicious is that ShellUTest is failed in OpenCog. Trying to rebuild it one more time to check if it is sporadic behavior.

[linas]

ShellUTest should never fail, unless you have the infamous netcat without the -q flag (the -n flag??) in which case it will always fail, and you have to retest after removing that flag :-(

[vsbogd]

ShellUTest failed: https://circleci.com/gh/opencog/atomspace/2524
SurprisingnessUTest failed: https://circleci.com/gh/opencog/atomspace/2526

[ferrouswheel]

I'll take a look when I'm next to a computer. The tests spew too much spam to be able to review results on a phone. :-/

…

On Sat, 15 Jun 2019, 7:46 AM Vitaly Bogdanov, ***@***.***> wrote: ShellUTest failed: https://circleci.com/gh/opencog/atomspace/2524 SurprisingnessUTest failed: https://circleci.com/gh/opencog/atomspace/2526 — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2220?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAA5MB7K6TZO4SIKX3YIHJTP2PYPVA5CNFSM4HXE3WUKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGODXXZFWI#issuecomment-502239961>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAA5MB2GNMIUG3KFXP4BN33P2PYPVANCNFSM4HXE3WUA> .

[linas]

SurprisinessUTest fails randomly about a third the time. Just keep hitting the retest button until it passes. That's an issue for @ngeiswei

I guess that ShellUTest fails intermittently as well :-(