How to use Python distutils?

See the distutils simple example. That's basically what it is like, except real install scripts usually contain a bit more information. I have not seen any that are fundamentally more complicated, though. In essence, you just give it a list of what needs to be installed. Sometimes you need to give it some mapping dicts since the source and installed trees might not be the same.

Here is a real-life (anonymized) example:

#!/usr/bin/python from distutils.core import setup setup (name = 'Initech Package 3',           description = "Services and libraries ABC, DEF",           author = "That Guy, Initech Ltd",           author_email = "that.guy@initech.com",           version = '1.0.5',           package_dir = {'Package3' : 'site-packages/Package3'},           packages = ['Package3', 'Package3.Queries'],           data_files = [                        ('/etc/Package3', ['etc/Package3/ExternalResources.conf'])           ])

apt-get install python-stdeb

Python to Debian source package conversion utility

This package provides some tools to produce Debian packages from Python packages via a new distutils command, sdist_dsc. Automatic defaults are provided for the Debian package, but many aspects of the resulting package can be customized via a configuration file.

• pypi-install will query the Python Package Index (PyPI) for apackage, download it, create a .deb from it, and then installthe .deb.
• py2dsc will convert a distutils-built source tarball into a Debiansource package.

Most Python programs will use distutils. Django is a one - see http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk/setup.py

You should also read the documentation, as it's very comprehensive and has some good examples.