Python eggs are an older distribution format for Python. The new format is called a Python wheel An egg file is basically a zip file with a different extension. Python can import directly from an egg. You will need the SetupTools package to work with eggs. SetupTools is the original mainstream method of downloading and installing Python packages from PyPI and other sources via the command line, kind of like apt-get for Python. There was a fork of SetupTools called distribute that was eventually merged back into SetupTools. I only mention it because you may see references to that fork if you do much reading about Python eggs outside of this book. While the egg format is being migrated away from, you do still need to know about it as there are many packages that are distributed using this technology. It will probably be years before everyone has stopped using eggs. Let’s learn how to make our own! If you want to install an egg, you can use easy_install. Uninstalling an egg is a bit tougher. You will have to go to its install location and delete the folder and / or egg file it installed as well as remove the entry for the package from the easy-install.pth file. All of these items can be found in your Python’s site-packages folder.
