title: pip install --upgrade sqlalchemy gives maximum recursion depth exceeded
body: <p>I've tried <code>pip install --upgrade sqlalchemy</code>, <code>python2.7 setup.py install</code>, and after deleting the sqlalchemy folder in site-packages, I've tried <code>pip install sqlalchemy</code>. They all give "RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in cmp".</p>
  
  <pre><code>  File "C:\Python27\lib\ntpath.py", line 200, in splitext
  return genericpath._splitext(p, sep, altsep, extsep)
    File "C:\Python27\lib\genericpath.py", line 102, in _splitext
      sepIndex = max(sepIndex, altsepIndex)
  RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in cmp
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have also tried to run the setup.py for v0.9 and get the same result. 
  Tried adding a line to setup.py to set max recursion to 10000 and python crashes.</p>
  
  <p>Edit: The traceback is a long repetition of this:</p>
  
  <pre><code> File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\setuptools\dist.py", line 225, in __init__
      _Distribution.__init__(self,attrs)
    File "c:\python27\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 287, in __init__
      self.finalize_options()
    File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\setuptools\dist.py", line 257, in finalize_options
      ep.require(installer=self.fetch_build_egg)
    File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 2029, in require
      working_set.resolve(self.dist.requires(self.extras),env,installer))
    File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 580, in resolve
      dist = best[req.key] = env.best_match(req, self, installer)
    File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 825, in best_match
      return self.obtain(req, installer) # try and download/install
    File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 837, in obtain
      return installer(requirement)
    File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg\setuptools\dist.py", line 272, in fetch_build_egg
      dist = self.__class__({'script_args':['easy_install']})
  {repeat until max recursion}
  </code></pre>