setup.py not working with --root directive (Packaging)

[rdoursenaud]

I'm trying to make the Arch Linux package.
If I run
python setup.py install --root="test" --optimize=1
I get
error: install_script 'windows/frescobaldi-wininst.py' not found in scripts

The normal install without the --root option works fine.

Any idea of what's triggering this behavior?
Maybe a workaround.
Had no problems with prior versions.

[dliessi]

I was about to report the same issue on Mac: the command used in MacPorts
python2.7 setup.py --no-user-cfg install --prefix=/path/to/prefix --root=/path/to/destroot
fails with
error: install_script 'windows/frescobaldi-wininst.py' not found in scripts.
This used to work with previous versions.

[proski]

This is easily reproducible on Ubuntu. --optimize=1 is not needed. windows/frescobaldi-wininst.py comes from setup.cfg

setup.py only adds windows/frescobaldi-wininst.py to the scripts list on Windows. An easy fix would be to add it unconditionally. But I hope there is a better way.

[rdoursenaud]

For now, I simply patched the setup.cfg to remove windows related lines.
I also hope there's a better way!

[dliessi]

This happens if setuptools is used instead of distutils.
I could not find a solution. @wbsoft @proski Any ideas?

For now, I simply patched the setup.cfg to remove windows related lines.

This is what I also did in MacPorts.

[wbsoft]

In previous versions the frescobaldi-wininst.py was in the root directory. Now it is in windows/. It is added to the scripts-to-install on Windows. It does some magic such as setting shortcuts and file associations. (It is not used in the Windows installer, which is made using Inno Setup and has its own setup stuff.) It is also not used on any other platform.

Where is this --root option documented and what can I do to fix this?

[dliessi]

I confirm that your fix solved the issue.
Indeed moving the options in setup.py is probably easier than finding a solution to keep setup.cfg.

In previous versions the frescobaldi-wininst.py was in the root directory. Now it is in windows/.

In previous versions we were using only distutils.
Before your latest commit 567c874, installing with distutils worked correctly, installing with setuptools did not.

Where is this --root option documented [...]?

See distutils/command/install.py, lines 92, 358, 517 and distutils/util.py, line 139.