30.12 distutils -- Building and installing Python modules

The distutils package provides support for building and installing additional modules into a Python installation. The new modules may be either 100%-pure Python, or may be extension modules written in C, or may be collections of Python packages which include modules coded in both Python and C.

This package is discussed in two separate documents which are included in the Python documentation package. To learn about distributing new modules using the distutils facilities, read Distributing Python Modules; this includes documentation needed to extend distutils. To learn about installing Python modules, whether or not the author made use of the distutils package, read Installing Python Modules.

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