document that --extra-search-dirs doesn't work

[qwcode]

document that --extra-search-dirs doesn't work (#327)

[pnasrat]

If it doesn't work should we not just remove it or fix it?

[pfmoore]

I'd certainly like to see documentation of precisely what doesn't work. I'm not completely convinced that there is a problem (or at least that there is a problem in a supported configuration) and some instructions on how to reproduce the issue would be helpful.

From what I understand of the problem, it's actually an issue around ez_setup, and not directly with any virtualenv code. Because of that, I'd be happy with clearly documenting when things go wrong, and clarifying that it's outside of the control of virtualenv.

But I believe that (for instance) using --extra-search-dirs simply to relocate the contents of virtualenv_support to another place works fine (although it's not clear whether this is a "supported" configuration given that messing with virtualenv_support is technically not supported...)

[qwcode]

well, fixing something takes time. : (
once we clear out our use of the bootstraps, fixing it, will be much easier I think.

--extra-search-dirs simply to relocate the contents of virtualenv_support to another place works fine

you can point to a different directory, but you can't actually install a different version of distribute or setuptools. that's the stated purpose of the option. try it. if you can get it to work, I'd like to see it. : )

note that the virtualenv code will log something like "Using existing... ", and appears to be using the alternate version, but then the bootstrap goes and installs the hard coded version.

[qwcode]

@pfmoore
if you can confirm what I'm saying, I'll happily update the docs for now, to explain the limitation.
"clarifying that it's outside of the control of virtualenv" is not the angle I would take. it's in our power to make this work, but we haven't done it.

[qwcode]

I pushed a commit that adds a note about this not working currently
d67fa83

I also updated the description for #327 w/o more details on how it's broken.