Python: How to force overwriting of files when using setup.py install (distutil)

python installation distutils overwrite
Jürgen Fuchsberger picture Jürgen Fuchsberger · Oct 2, 2013 · Viewed 25.7k times · Source

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?

Thanks, Juergen

Answer

Aaron Curtis picture Aaron Curtis · Feb 14, 2014

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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