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I need to use the Sybase Python module but our SA's won't install because it's not in the repo's. I've downloaded it and placed it on the box and would just like to 'import' or 'include' the module without installing it first. - Is this possible? From the looks of it (Sybase ASE) it needs some type of compilation before use. Is it possible for this type of work around?

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3 Answers 3

If you can get Sybase to use a virtual environment (I know nothing about Sybase, sorry), perhaps you could install the module using virtualenv, which generally doesn't require root access or SA approval.

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+1: virtualenv is great :). –  Andrew Aylett Jun 8 '10 at 13:48

From the sybase documentation it looks like compilation is required, and Google tells me that it's not available in the easy_install repos either.

It may be easier to do a little social engineering (cookies anyone?) to get the modules installed for you. I don't know what your work environment is like, but if you really need the python Sybase module to do your job, either 1) the SA's should be installing it anyway, or 2) you need to be using something different.

You could always try writing a python script that does the d/l and install automagically and give it to the SAs so they don't have to worry about the "difficulty" of doing something besides apt-getting.

I don't know about the virtual environments, though - that might be an ideal avenue.

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Thanks, It's policy so they won't install anything that isn't in the sun repos so no amount of bribery will get this done, no virtual env's either. Include is the only way :( not sure if there is another Sybase driver for python out there, will check. –  Michael Jun 8 '10 at 13:53

Assuming you meet the prerequisites for compiling, untarring it and then running:

python setup.py build_ext

should produce a sybasect shared object. Copying this file and the Sybase.py file somwhere onto PYTHONPATH might just do it for you.

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I'll try this - I assume I can build this somewhere else and just copy over the required files to the server? –  Michael Jun 8 '10 at 14:50

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