Workaround for lacking permission when creating Python Packages -

i'm writing python program contains several folders , has become big enough making package makes sense (so intra-module imports work).

the project pretty consists of:

project_folder/  - setup.py  - source_code/      - somecode.py      - __init__.py  - inputs/      - input_image.png      - input_text.conf      - __init__.py  - outputs/      - __init__.py 

now problem have when install package

 python setup.py install 

the package in /usr/local/lib/... folder don't have permission save outputs python without running elevated privileges. not that, changing inputs overly complicated average user.

so first solution thought of have separate folder somewhere in /home directory inputs , outputs directory stored. however, makes installation more difficult user has go source_code directory , change of paths describe inputs located.

am missing obvious here, or there no solution easy in every case?

is there way make intra-package imports work without installing package on setup.py?

use --user switch of install command. puts files in $home/.local instead of /usr/local. read more here.

you may have add $home/.local/bin path environment variable.