site py deleted

Question

I have deleted the Python installation file, i.e, the site.py file by mistake. Now after starting Python, it shows the following error:

ImportError: Couldn't find the real 'site' module

I tried downloading a site.py from setuptools but this results in an infinite recursion in the __boot method around the statement imp.load_module('site',stream,path,descr)

Can anyone help me with reinstalling Python and also tell me what is the work of site.py file?

Answer 1

You can download a new copy from the python source repository:

For python 2.7
For python 3.2
 

For other python versions, generally the URL is http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/*major*.*minor*/Lib/site.py for the correct tagged version, then select the raw link in the left-hand menu.

If you installed python from a linux distribution package on Ubuntu or Debian, then this file has been customized and you'll need to re-install the appropriate python-minimal package.