Is there a way to specify the build directory for py2exe
Question: I can set the final `dist` directory of py2exe using the command line:

    
    
    python setup.py py2exe -d "my/dist/dir"
    

but I can't seem to set the file to use for the interim `build` directory.
I've taken a brief look at the source, but unless I am missing something there
doesn't appear to be any way to do it.


Answer: Any option that you can set on the command line you can set either through a
[setup.cfg](http://docs.python.org/distutils/configfile.html) file or in your
setup.py file.

`-d` is a shortcut for `--dist-dir` which you can add to the py2xe dict in the
dictionary passed to the options keyword param of setup as `'dist_dir'`:

    
    
    from distutils.core import setup
    import py2exe
    
    # equivalent command line with options is:
    # python setup.py py2exe --compressed --bundle-files=2 --dist-dir="my/dist/dir" --dll-excludes="w9xpopen.exe"
    options = {'py2exe': {
               'compressed':1,  
               'bundle_files': 2, 
               'dist_dir': "my/dist/dir"
               'dll_excludes': ['w9xpopen.exe']
               }}
    setup(console=['myscript.py'], options=options)
    

You could also put
[setup.cfg](http://docs.python.org/distutils/configfile.html) next to your
setup.py file:

    
    
    [py2exe]
    compressed=1
    bundle_files=2 
    dist_dir=my/dist/dir
    dll_excludes=w9xpopen.exe
    

The build directory (`--build-base`) is an option of the build command so you
can add it to one of the config files (or the setup.py) as:

    
    
    [build]
    build_base=my/build/dir
    

