Drastically simplified by taking advantage of the "install" command's

new flexibility, specifically the 'root' option.  Now, we just use
"install" to do a fake installation into a temporary directory
(the 'bdist_dir' option, which derives from the 'bdist_base' option of
"bdist"), and then tar/zip up that directory.  This means that dumb
built distributions are now relative to the root directory, rather than
the prefix or exec-prefix; this is probably a feature, but does make
them slightly less flexible.

command/bdist_dumb.py

@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ class bdist_dumb (Command):
 
     description = "create a \"dumb\" built distribution"
 
-    user_options = [('format=', 'f',
+    user_options = [('bdist-dir=', 'd',
+                     "temporary directory for creating the distribution"),
+                    ('format=', 'f',
                      "archive format to create (tar, ztar, gztar, zip)"),
                     ('keep-tree', 'k',
                      "keep the pseudo-installation tree around after " +
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@ class bdist_dumb (Command):
 
 
     def initialize_options (self):
+        self.bdist_dir = None
         self.format = None
         self.keep_tree = 0
 
@@ -36,6 +39,10 @@ class bdist_dumb (Command):
 
 
     def finalize_options (self):
+        if self.bdist_dir is None:
+            bdist_base = self.get_peer_option('bdist', 'bdist_base')
+            self.bdist_dir = os.path.join(bdist_base, 'dumb')
+
         if self.format is None:
             try:
                 self.format = self.default_format[os.name]
@@ -50,91 +57,31 @@ class bdist_dumb (Command):
     def run (self):
 
         self.run_peer ('build')
-        install = self.find_peer ('install')
-        inputs = install.get_inputs ()
-        outputs = install.get_outputs ()
-        assert (len (inputs) == len (outputs))
-
-        # First, strip the installation base directory (prefix or
-        # exec-prefix) from all the output filenames.
-        self.strip_base_dirs (outputs, install)
 
-        # Figure out where to copy them to: "build/bdist" by default; this
-        # directory masquerades as prefix/exec-prefix (ie.  we'll make the
-        # archive from 'output_dir').
-        build_base = self.get_peer_option ('build', 'build_base')
-        output_dir = os.path.join (build_base, "bdist")
+        # XXX don't use 'self.find_peer()', because it always runs
+        # 'ensure_ready()' on the command object; we explictly want a
+        # command object that has *not* been finalized, so we can set
+        # options on it!  (The option we set, 'root', is so that we can do
+        # a proper "fake install" using this install command object.)
+        install = self.distribution.find_command_obj('install')
+        install.root = self.bdist_dir
 
-        # Copy the built files to the pseudo-installation tree.
-        self.make_install_tree (output_dir, inputs, outputs)
+        self.announce ("installing to %s" % self.bdist_dir)
+        install.ensure_ready()
+        install.run()
 
         # And make an archive relative to the root of the
         # pseudo-installation tree.
         archive_basename = "%s.%s" % (self.distribution.get_fullname(),
                                       get_platform())
-        print "output_dir = %s" % output_dir
+        print "self.bdist_dir = %s" % self.bdist_dir
         print "self.format = %s" % self.format
         self.make_archive (archive_basename, self.format,
-                           root_dir=output_dir)
+                           root_dir=self.bdist_dir)
 
         if not self.keep_tree:
-            remove_tree (output_dir, self.verbose, self.dry_run)
+            remove_tree (self.bdist_dir, self.verbose, self.dry_run)
 
     # run()
 
-
-    def strip_base_dirs (self, outputs, install_cmd):
-        # XXX this throws away the prefix/exec-prefix distinction, and
-        # means we can only correctly install the resulting archive on a
-        # system where prefix == exec-prefix (but at least we can *create*
-        # it on one where they differ).  I don't see a way to fix this
-        # without either 1) generating two archives, one for prefix and one
-        # for exec-prefix, or 2) putting absolute paths in the archive
-        # rather than making them relative to one of the prefixes.
-
-        base = install_cmd.install_base + os.sep
-        platbase = install_cmd.install_platbase + os.sep
-        b_len = len (base)
-        pb_len = len (platbase)
-        for i in range (len (outputs)):
-            if outputs[i][0:b_len] == base:
-                outputs[i] = outputs[i][b_len:]
-            elif outputs[i][0:pb_len] == platbase:
-                outputs[i] = outputs[i][pb_len:]
-            else:
-                raise DistutilsInternalError, \
-                      ("installation output filename '%s' doesn't start " + 
-                       "with either install_base ('%s') or " +
-                       "install_platbase ('%s')") % \
-                      (outputs[i], base, platbase)
-
-    # strip_base_dirs()
-
-
-    def make_install_tree (self, output_dir, inputs, outputs):
-
-        assert (len(inputs) == len(outputs))
-
-        # Create all the directories under 'output_dir' necessary to
-        # put 'outputs' there.
-        create_tree (output_dir, outputs,
-                     verbose=self.verbose, dry_run=self.dry_run)
-
-
-        # XXX this bit of logic is duplicated in sdist.make_release_tree():
-        # would be nice to factor it out...
-        if hasattr (os, 'link'):        # can make hard links on this system
-            link = 'hard'
-            msg = "making hard links in %s..." % output_dir
-        else:                           # nope, have to copy
-            link = None
-            msg = "copying files to %s..." % output_dir
-
-        for i in range (len(inputs)):
-            output = os.path.join (output_dir, outputs[i])
-            self.copy_file (inputs[i], output, link=link)
-
-    # make_install_tree ()
-
-
 # class bdist_dumb