title: What are site-packages in python and can you install/use them if you aren't root?
body: <p>I am trying to install <a href="http://lldb.llvm.org/" rel="noreferrer">lldb</a> in Linux to my home directory on my system (I do not have root access) and I have run into a problem with a step that was trying to create a subdirectory in <code>/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages</code></p>
  
  <p>I found the line in the Makefile that sets this variable and it is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>PYTHON_DEST_DIR := $(DESTDIR)/$(call realpath,$(shell python -c 'import sys; print sys.exec_prefix')/lib/python$(shell python -c 'import sys; print sys.version[:3]')/site-packages)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So it's not something that I can specify in the configure sciprt, but I can change the Makefile to cause the files to be copied to some location in my home directory.  But I don't really understand what <code>site-packages</code> are or how I would specify that python should look in some alternative location for these files.  Is this something that is possible or are there any workarounds for what I want to do?</p>