[PEAK] dumb question about easy_install

[Michael Bayer]

I noticed after upgrading setuptools recently that PYTHONPATH usage  
has gotten more complicated.  I.e., if I open a shell and just  
arbitrarily set PYTHONPATH to a directory where i have some code  
somewhere, the "official" version of the package in site-packages  
insists on being used, as though PYTHONPATH doesnt exist.  to get it  
to work, i had to blow away the package in the site-packages/easy- 
install.pth file....not such a terrific solution.

then I noticed in the docs that there is a "traditional" pythonpath- 
based installation method.  but this seems to be more about, "you  
want to install your package in a PYTHONPATH directory instead of  
site-packages".  which is not what im looking for.

i want setuptools to put things in site-packages like it always does;  
but i want to be able to occasionally override the existence of the  
package in the normal way by setting PYTHONPATH to some local  
directory somewhere.   just like we do in java with CLASSPATH, or in  
a unix distro with LD_LIBRARY_PATH, or perl with PERL5LIB...is this  
no longer possible with setuptools? or is this just a bug ?

- mike