py27-readline @6.2.4.1_0: build failure with distribute installed in /Library/Python

[abc@…]

Did a "sudo port upgrade outdated" and got

--->  Computing dependencies for py27-readline
--->  Fetching archive for py27-readline
--->  Attempting to fetch py27-readline-6.2.4.1_0.darwin_12.x86_64.tbz2 from http://jog.id.packages.macports.org/macports/packages/py27-readline
--->  Attempting to fetch py27-readline-6.2.4.1_0.darwin_12.x86_64.tbz2 from http://packages.macports.org/py27-readline
--->  Attempting to fetch py27-readline-6.2.4.1_0.darwin_12.x86_64.tbz2 from http://mse.uk.packages.macports.org/sites/packages.macports.org/py27-readline
--->  Fetching distfiles for py27-readline
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for py27-readline
--->  Extracting py27-readline
--->  Applying patches to py27-readline
--->  Configuring py27-readline
--->  Building py27-readline
Error: org.macports.build for port py27-readline returned: command execution failed
Please see the log file for port py27-readline for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_python_py-readline/py27-readline/main.log
Error: Unable to upgrade port: 1

I think my previous version was 6.2.2_0, because I tried to uninstall it using "sudo port uninstall py27-readline" (as recommended in ​http://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets.prerequisites), but got

-->  Unable to uninstall py27-readline @6.2.2_0, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	py27-ipython @0.13_1+scientific
--->  	py27-ipython @0.13.1_0+scientific
Error: org.macports.uninstall for port py27-readline returned: Please uninstall the ports that depend on py27-readline first.
Please see the log file for port py27-readline for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_registry_portfiles_py27-readline_6.2.2_0/py27-readline/main.log
Warning: Failed to execute portfile from registry for py27-readline @6.2.2_0
--->  Unable to uninstall py27-readline @6.2.2_0, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	py27-ipython @0.13_1+scientific
--->  	py27-ipython @0.13.1_0+scientific
Error: port uninstall failed: Please uninstall the ports that depend on py27-readline first.

[abc@…]

Log file

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

It's finding distribute in /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages. Not sure why that's even in the search path.

[ned-deily (Ned Deily)]

See #34763

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Has duplicate #39525.

[jfilippidis@…]

The issue in my case (with the same log, see 39525 ) had been as explained in 34763. The Mac OS X python 2.7 installation interferes with MacPorts python 2.7. This occurs while calling setup.py during port install py27-readline. Setup.py tries to import from setuptools and instead of using the MacPorts setuptools version 0.7 (no distribute), it uses the system python one. Part of the error is also explained here: ​https://bitbucket.org/tarek/distribute/issue/104

Also, other packages (like pep8) failed to installed due to the same reason, preventing installation of ipython and spyder. Briefly, all this is caused by adding /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages to the path while building, for more explanations see 34763.

A solution for all these problems is to uninstall the distribute package from the preinstalled Mac OS X python 2.7. In order to achieve this, follow these steps:

   sudo port select --set python python27-apple
   sudo pip uninstall distribute
   sudo port select --set python python27

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

I think we should probably resolve #34763 by removing that search path from the python27 port.

[abc@…]

I don't have pip installed, or at least it's not in my path. In general python installations on OS X are way too complicated for me. I think I have something like 4 different ones on my computer and I'm happy every time I manage to use Python without something going wrong.

Any other ideas on how I can work around this for now?

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

Moving /Library/Python aside while you run the build should work around it.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

Closing as per comment:5.