winswitch 0.12.23: setup.py install --prefix not respected for all items (need PREFIX= environmental variable as well)

[J G Miller]

For software installed from source, it is essential to be able to specify the installation directory tree (eg /usr/local) in order to avoid conflicts with OS installed software from packages.

And for those of us that manage installed local software with GNU stow,

(see ​https://www.gnu.org/software/stow if not familiar with the approach)

it is even more important that files get installed under the specified directory tree.

Now winswitch does this for most of the install if --prefix is used

/usr/bin/python "/usr/src/build/winswitch-0.12.23/setup.py" install --prefix="/usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local"

creating /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch
creating /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch/ui
copying build/lib.linux-i686-2.7/winswitch/ui/window_fake_tray.py -> /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch/ui
...
byte-compiling /usr/local/stow/Network/winswitch-0.12.23/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winswitch/ui/window_fake_tray.py to window_fake_tray.pyc
...

but for a number of items the install process ignores the prefix and installs directly under system directories /etc and /usr/lib

creating /etc/winswitch

and

creating /usr/lib/winswitch

For installs under "/usr/local" these should instead be accessible under /usr/local/etc/winswitch and /usr/local/lib/winswitch respectively when installation is complete.

Now after checking the setup.py file, it seems a non-standard (?) method of specifying the destination for installs works, by specifying the environmental variable PREFIX="prefix_dir" get the etc/winswich and lib/winswitch installed under the prefix dir BUT --prefix prefix_dir is still needed to get all the other items to the prefix directory.

Please ensure that the --prefix prefix_dir variable is applied to all items being installed without the need for adding the environmental variable, or at the very minimum, mention this double requirement in the README file.

Thank you for your assistance in resolving this issue.

[Antoine Martin]

Sorry, I don't have the time to fix this.

Dealing with distutils is hard so this would require significant changes for very little value.
In any case the README file points to this website, which is THE reference.