["python","pip","easy-install","package-managers"]
What's the difference between dist-packages and site-packages?

I'm a bit miffed by the python package installation process. Specifically, what's the difference between packages installed in the dist-packages directory and the site-packages directory?
dist-packages is a Debian-specific convention that is also present in its derivatives, like Ubuntu. Modules are installed to dist-packages when they come from the Debian package manager into this location: /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages Since easy_install and pip are installed from the package manager, they also use dist-packages, but they put packages here: /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages From the Debian Python Wiki: dist-packages instead of site-packages. Third party Python software installed from Debian packages goes into dist-packages, not site-packages. This is to reduce conflict between the system Python, and any from-source Python build you might install manually. This means that if you manually compile and install Python interpreter from source, it uses the site-packages directory. This allows you to keep the two installations separate, especially since Debian and Ubuntu rely on the system version of Python for many system utilities.