How to Install pre-requisites with setup.py
Question: I have pure python package that relies on 3 other python packages: I'm using
distutils.core.setup to do the installation.

This is my code from setup.py:

    
    
    from distutils.core import setup
    
    setup(
        name='mypackage',
        version='0.2',
        scripts=['myscript'],
        packages=['mypackage'],
        install_requires=[
            'netifaces > 0.5',
            'IPy > 0.75',
            'yaml > 3.10'])
    

I specified the modules I need with install_requires, but it seems to have no
effect when I run

    
    
    python ./setup.py install
    

How can I ensure that the modules that mypackage depends on are installed?


Answer: `distutils` has no functionality for downloading, or even verifying,
prerequisites; its `install_requires` is only there for documentation.

If you want that, you need the third-party library
[`setuptools`](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools).

Most people already have `setuptools`, and hopefully `pip`, and will be using
them to install your package anyway (assuming you plan to distribute over
PyPI), but if you include the `setuptools` bootstrap, it will take care of
installing `setuptools` if needed to install those dependencies.

