python setup.py problem [solved]

[Matthieu Moy]

"Wichmann, Mats D" <mats.d.wichmann at intel.com> writes:

> That's actually a long-standing "bug" (quoted because SuSE
> don't seem to agree it's a bug), that you need the -dev
> package to perform the basic Python functionality of
> installing something.... 

That's obviously not a bug. Debian, and most likely other distribution
do the same.

The reason why you have foo and foo-dev (whatever foo is) is that
there are things that you don't need to run a program, and that are
only needed to compile them.

If you install a library, say kdelibs, you don't need the header files
to run KDE, so your distribution can provide you a package kdelibs
without the header files, and the header files in a -dev package. This
-dev package is usefull if you're a KDE application developper or if
you want to compile a KDE application manually.

Similarly, if I do "aptitude install bzr", I don't need anything to
compile a python program, so my system doesn't install it. The -dev
package is needed if you want to compile an application manually.

-- 
Matthieu