pkg_resources not found after installing setuptools

I am trying to compile and install python2.6.4 on Debian 5.0.3 (64bit). I installed using 'make altinstall' as I want to keep python 2.5.2 that comes with Deb5.0开发者_运维技巧 as my default python.

Following this, I installed setuptools 0.6c11 using the command 'sudo sh setuptools-0.6c11-py2.6.egg --prefix=/usr/local'. However, after installing when I try to 'import pkg_resources' from python2.6, it doesnt work saying 'ImportError: No module named pkg_resources'. Without pkg_resources, I can hardly do much.

Can someone share here what may be going wrong or what's missing?

Packaging and package integration is tricky. Debian has Python 2.6, but for some internal reason it is only in the experimental branch:

$ rmadison python2.6
 python2.6 |    2.6.2-2 |  experimental | source, ia64
 python2.6 |    2.6.4-1 |  experimental | source, alpha, amd64, armel, hppa, \
                                          i386, powerpc, s390, sparc

$

I would use that package as it is likely to be more fully integrated with the rest of python packaging. Plus, as it is a .deb, you can easily uninstall it.

And the debian-python list may be able to assist you further.