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I am using distutil to install my python code using

python setup.py install

I run into problems when I want to install an older branch of my code over a new one: setup.py install won't overwrite older files. A work around is touching (touch <filename>) all files so they are forced to be newer than those installed, but this is pretty ugly.

What I am looking for is an option to force overwriting of all files, eg. something like

python setup.py --force install

Any Ideas?

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3 Answers 3

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54

The Python developers had the same idea, they just put the option after the command:

python setup.py install --force

The distutils documentation doesn't mention the --force option specifically, but you can find it by using the --help option:

python setup.py --help install
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2 Comments

Note, the --force overwrites, and does not remove files. I find I depend on pip uninstall <package> when I need to switch versions. Otherwise, you do not know what is lurking. If pip is not an option, then I think you have to manually remove /bin/<package-programs> and /lib/python/site-packages/<package>. Again, pip is your friend.
The --force option does not appear to be documented nor functional in python3.
5

Go to the setup.py directory and I simply use:

pip install .

It works for me.

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It also works for me. It properly overwrites my files, even install --force didn't do that for some reason. setup.py seems to be properly executed and all my files are copied to where they should go.
stackoverflow.com/a/15731459/4417769 "So basically, use pip. It only offers improvements"
0

In my case, I have to remove the build and dist folders

rm -rf build
rm -rf dist
python3 setup.py install
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