diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/filesystem.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/filesystem.py
index 9f08832598261eeab6560be19f261c3f398da061..576aeb16bd36749356a2ddcc72d3137aa6810db2 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/filesystem.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/filesystem.py
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
 # Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
 __all__ = ['set_install_permissions', 'install', 'expand_user', 'working_dir',
-           'touch', 'mkdirp', 'force_remove', 'join_path', 'ancestor',
-           'can_access', 'filter_file', 'change_sed_delimiter']
+           'touch', 'touchp', 'mkdirp', 'force_remove', 'join_path', 'ancestor',
+           'can_access', 'filter_file', 'change_sed_delimiter', 'is_exe']
 
 import os
 import sys
@@ -154,6 +154,11 @@ def install(src, dest):
     os.chmod(dest, dest_mode)
 
 
+def is_exe(path):
+    """True if path is an executable file."""
+    return os.path.isfile(path) and os.access(path, os.X_OK)
+
+
 def expand_user(path):
     """Find instances of '%u' in a path and replace with the current user's
        username."""
@@ -199,6 +204,12 @@ def touch(path):
         os.utime(path, None)
 
 
+def touchp(path):
+    """Like touch, but creates any parent directories needed for the file."""
+    mkdirp(os.path.dirname(path))
+    touch(path)
+
+
 def join_path(prefix, *args):
     path = str(prefix)
     for elt in args:
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4e4e48316e86435659d5ed537d089b5a4fc5131c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py
@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+"""LinkTree class for setting up trees of symbolic links."""
+__all__ = ['LinkTree']
+
+import os
+import shutil
+from llnl.util.filesystem import *
+
+empty_file_name = '.spack-empty'
+
+
+def traverse_tree(source_root, dest_root, rel_path='', **kwargs):
+    """Traverse two filesystem trees simultaneously.
+
+    Walks the LinkTree directory in pre or post order.  Yields each
+    file in the source directory with a matching path from the dest
+    directory, along with whether the file is a directory.
+    e.g., for this tree::
+
+        root/
+          a/
+            file1
+            file2
+          b/
+            file3
+
+    When called on dest, this yields::
+
+        ('root',         'dest')
+        ('root/a',       'dest/a')
+        ('root/a/file1', 'dest/a/file1')
+        ('root/a/file2', 'dest/a/file2')
+        ('root/b',       'dest/b')
+        ('root/b/file3', 'dest/b/file3')
+
+    Optional args:
+
+    order=[pre|post] -- Whether to do pre- or post-order traveral.
+
+    ignore=<predicate> -- Predicate indicating which files to ignore.
+
+    follow_nonexisting -- Whether to descend into directories in
+                          src that do not exit in dest. Default True.
+
+    follow_links -- Whether to descend into symlinks in src.
+
+    """
+    follow_nonexisting = kwargs.get('follow_nonexisting', True)
+    follow_links = kwargs.get('follow_link', False)
+
+    # Yield in pre or post order?
+    order  = kwargs.get('order', 'pre')
+    if order not in ('pre', 'post'):
+        raise ValueError("Order must be 'pre' or 'post'.")
+
+    # List of relative paths to ignore under the src root.
+    ignore = kwargs.get('ignore', lambda filename: False)
+
+    # Don't descend into ignored directories
+    if ignore(rel_path):
+        return
+
+    source_path = os.path.join(source_root, rel_path)
+    dest_path   = os.path.join(dest_root, rel_path)
+
+    # preorder yields directories before children
+    if order == 'pre':
+        yield (source_path, dest_path)
+
+    for f in os.listdir(source_path):
+        source_child = os.path.join(source_path, f)
+        dest_child   = os.path.join(dest_path, f)
+        rel_child    = os.path.join(rel_path, f)
+
+        # Treat as a directory
+        if os.path.isdir(source_child) and (
+            follow_links or not os.path.islink(source_child)):
+
+            # When follow_nonexisting isn't set, don't descend into dirs
+            # in source that do not exist in dest
+            if follow_nonexisting or os.path.exists(dest_child):
+                tuples = traverse_tree(source_root, dest_root, rel_child, **kwargs)
+                for t in tuples: yield t
+
+        # Treat as a file.
+        elif not ignore(os.path.join(rel_path, f)):
+            yield (source_child, dest_child)
+
+    if order == 'post':
+        yield (source_path, dest_path)
+
+
+
+class LinkTree(object):
+    """Class to create trees of symbolic links from a source directory.
+
+    LinkTree objects are constructed with a source root.  Their
+    methods allow you to create and delete trees of symbolic links
+    back to the source tree in specific destination directories.
+    Trees comprise symlinks only to files; directries are never
+    symlinked to, to prevent the source directory from ever being
+    modified.
+
+    """
+    def __init__(self, source_root):
+        if not os.path.exists(source_root):
+            raise IOError("No such file or directory: '%s'", source_root)
+
+        self._root = source_root
+
+
+    def find_conflict(self, dest_root, **kwargs):
+        """Returns the first file in dest that conflicts with src"""
+        kwargs['follow_nonexisting'] = False
+        for src, dest in traverse_tree(self._root, dest_root, **kwargs):
+            if os.path.isdir(src):
+                if os.path.exists(dest) and not os.path.isdir(dest):
+                    return dest
+            elif os.path.exists(dest):
+                return dest
+        return None
+
+
+    def merge(self, dest_root, **kwargs):
+        """Link all files in src into dest, creating directories if necessary."""
+        kwargs['order'] = 'pre'
+        for src, dest in traverse_tree(self._root, dest_root, **kwargs):
+            if os.path.isdir(src):
+                if not os.path.exists(dest):
+                    mkdirp(dest)
+                    continue
+
+                if not os.path.isdir(dest):
+                    raise ValueError("File blocks directory: %s" % dest)
+
+                # mark empty directories so they aren't removed on unmerge.
+                if not os.listdir(dest):
+                    marker = os.path.join(dest, empty_file_name)
+                    touch(marker)
+
+            else:
+                assert(not os.path.exists(dest))
+                os.symlink(src, dest)
+
+
+    def unmerge(self, dest_root, **kwargs):
+        """Unlink all files in dest that exist in src.
+
+        Unlinks directories in dest if they are empty.
+
+        """
+        kwargs['order'] = 'post'
+        for src, dest in traverse_tree(self._root, dest_root, **kwargs):
+            if os.path.isdir(src):
+                if not os.path.isdir(dest):
+                    raise ValueError("File blocks directory: %s" % dest)
+
+                # remove directory if it is empty.
+                if not os.listdir(dest):
+                    shutil.rmtree(dest, ignore_errors=True)
+
+                # remove empty dir marker if present.
+                marker = os.path.join(dest, empty_file_name)
+                if os.path.exists(marker):
+                    os.remove(marker)
+
+            elif os.path.exists(dest):
+                if not os.path.islink(dest):
+                    raise ValueError("%s is not a link tree!" % dest)
+                os.remove(dest)
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
index 6697e00e40e3797ac5a88b1b5b7be64fe0589398..6763411f7d33b2b5ea091d6220d715aede04f866 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@
 #       should live.  This file is overloaded for spack core vs. for packages.
 #
 __all__ = ['Package', 'Version', 'when', 'ver']
-from spack.package import Package
+from spack.package import Package, ExtensionConflictError
 from spack.version import Version, ver
 from spack.multimethod import when
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py
index 537db536ddd8954171205fa88382b1c8e6289981..b96ac5af510a1f46c1aa3bea5692e00fb6f110e1 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py
@@ -121,3 +121,18 @@ def elide_list(line_list, max_num=10):
         return line_list[:max_num-1] + ['...'] + line_list[-1:]
     else:
         return line_list
+
+
+def disambiguate_spec(spec):
+    matching_specs = spack.db.get_installed(spec)
+    if not matching_specs:
+        tty.die("Spec '%s' matches no installed packages." % spec)
+
+    elif len(matching_specs) > 1:
+        args =  ["%s matches multiple packages." % spec,
+                 "Matching packages:"]
+        args += ["  " + str(s) for s in matching_specs]
+        args += ["Use a more specific spec."]
+        tty.die(*args)
+
+    return matching_specs[0]
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/activate.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/activate.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c1e23852d64c6f157e656dbd9b11303d2262c7df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/activate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+from external import argparse
+import llnl.util.tty as tty
+import spack
+import spack.cmd
+
+description = "Activate a package extension."
+
+def setup_parser(subparser):
+    subparser.add_argument(
+        'spec', nargs=argparse.REMAINDER, help="spec of package extension to activate.")
+
+
+def activate(parser, args):
+    specs = spack.cmd.parse_specs(args.spec, concretize=True)
+    if len(specs) != 1:
+        tty.die("activate requires one spec.  %d given." % len(specs))
+
+    # TODO: remove this hack when DAG info is stored in dir layout.
+    # This ensures the ext spec is always normalized properly.
+    spack.db.get(specs[0])
+
+    spec = spack.cmd.disambiguate_spec(specs[0])
+    if spec.package.activated:
+        tty.die("Package %s is already activated." % specs[0].short_spec)
+
+    spec.package.do_activate()
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deactivate.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deactivate.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fd13f051dfb098ebae4a6fab312dfff04c0c1641
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deactivate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+from external import argparse
+import llnl.util.tty as tty
+import spack
+import spack.cmd
+
+description = "Deactivate a package extension."
+
+def setup_parser(subparser):
+    subparser.add_argument(
+        'spec', nargs=argparse.REMAINDER, help="spec of package extension to deactivate.")
+
+
+def deactivate(parser, args):
+    specs = spack.cmd.parse_specs(args.spec, concretize=True)
+    if len(specs) != 1:
+        tty.die("deactivate requires one spec.  %d given." % len(specs))
+
+    # TODO: remove this hack when DAG info is stored in dir layout.
+    # This ensures the ext spec is always normalized properly.
+    spack.db.get(specs[0])
+
+    spec = spack.cmd.disambiguate_spec(specs[0])
+    if not spec.package.activated:
+        tty.die("Package %s is not activated." % specs[0].short_spec)
+
+    spec.package.do_deactivate()
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/extensions.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/extensions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f6ccd7b5151e6620b1c4f21080c7e7e45950e354
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/extensions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+import sys
+from external import argparse
+
+import llnl.util.tty as tty
+from llnl.util.tty.colify import colify
+
+import spack
+import spack.cmd
+import spack.cmd.find
+
+description = "List extensions for package."
+
+def setup_parser(subparser):
+    format_group = subparser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
+    format_group.add_argument(
+        '-l', '--long', action='store_const', dest='mode', const='long',
+        help='Show dependency hashes as well as versions.')
+    format_group.add_argument(
+        '-p', '--paths', action='store_const', dest='mode', const='paths',
+        help='Show paths to extension install directories')
+    format_group.add_argument(
+        '-d', '--deps', action='store_const', dest='mode', const='deps',
+        help='Show full dependency DAG of extensions')
+
+    subparser.add_argument(
+        'spec', nargs=argparse.REMAINDER, help='Spec of package to list extensions for')
+
+
+def extensions(parser, args):
+    if not args.spec:
+        tty.die("extensions requires a package spec.")
+
+    # Checks
+    spec = spack.cmd.parse_specs(args.spec)
+    if len(spec) > 1:
+        tty.die("Can only list extensions for one package.")
+
+    if not spec[0].package.extendable:
+        tty.die("%s is not an extendable package." % spec[0].name)
+
+    spec = spack.cmd.disambiguate_spec(spec[0])
+
+    if not spec.package.extendable:
+        tty.die("%s does not have extensions." % spec.short_spec)
+
+    if not args.mode:
+        args.mode = 'short'
+
+    # List package names of extensions
+    extensions = spack.db.extensions_for(spec)
+    if not extensions:
+        tty.msg("%s has no extensions." % spec.cshort_spec)
+        return
+    tty.msg("%s extensions:" % spec.cshort_spec)
+    colify(ext.name for ext in extensions)
+
+    # List specs of installed extensions.
+    installed  = [s.spec for s in spack.db.installed_extensions_for(spec)]
+    print
+    if not installed:
+        tty.msg("None activated.")
+        return
+    tty.msg("%d installed:" % len(installed))
+    spack.cmd.find.display_specs(installed, mode=args.mode)
+
+    # List specs of activated extensions.
+    activated  = spack.install_layout.get_extensions(spec)
+    print
+    if not activated:
+        tty.msg("None activated.")
+        return
+    tty.msg("%d currently activated:" % len(exts))
+    spack.cmd.find.display_specs(installed, mode=args.mode)
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
index 1de3413d42d4cba7b9a3e6b7ec6266342aa8ae8c..f6f503afe5d3a8d6a52ab817dd0b37894ac50187 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
@@ -41,13 +41,13 @@
 def setup_parser(subparser):
     format_group = subparser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
     format_group.add_argument(
-        '-l', '--long', action='store_true', dest='long',
+        '-l', '--long', action='store_const', dest='mode', const='long',
         help='Show dependency hashes as well as versions.')
     format_group.add_argument(
-        '-p', '--paths', action='store_true', dest='paths',
+        '-p', '--paths', action='store_const', dest='mode', const='paths',
         help='Show paths to package install directories')
     format_group.add_argument(
-        '-d', '--deps', action='store_true', dest='full_deps',
+        '-d', '--deps', action='store_const', dest='mode', const='deps',
         help='Show full dependency DAG of installed packages')
 
     subparser.add_argument(
@@ -55,26 +55,8 @@ def setup_parser(subparser):
         help='optional specs to filter results')
 
 
-def find(parser, args):
-    # Filter out specs that don't exist.
-    query_specs = spack.cmd.parse_specs(args.query_specs)
-    query_specs, nonexisting = partition_list(
-        query_specs, lambda s: spack.db.exists(s.name))
-
-    if nonexisting:
-        msg = "No such package%s: " % ('s' if len(nonexisting) > 1 else '')
-        msg += ", ".join(s.name for s in nonexisting)
-        tty.msg(msg)
-
-        if not query_specs:
-            return
-
-    # Get all the specs the user asked for
-    if not query_specs:
-        specs = set(spack.db.installed_package_specs())
-    else:
-        results = [set(spack.db.get_installed(qs)) for qs in query_specs]
-        specs = set.union(*results)
+def display_specs(specs, **kwargs):
+    mode = kwargs.get('mode', 'short')
 
     # Make a dict with specs keyed by architecture and compiler.
     index = index_by(specs, ('architecture', 'compiler'))
@@ -92,7 +74,7 @@ def find(parser, args):
         specs.sort()
 
         abbreviated = [s.format('$_$@$+', color=True) for s in specs]
-        if args.paths:
+        if mode == 'paths':
             # Print one spec per line along with prefix path
             width = max(len(s) for s in abbreviated)
             width += 2
@@ -101,11 +83,44 @@ def find(parser, args):
             for abbrv, spec in zip(abbreviated, specs):
                 print format % (abbrv, spec.prefix)
 
-        elif args.full_deps:
+        elif mode == 'deps':
             for spec in specs:
                 print spec.tree(indent=4, format='$_$@$+', color=True),
-        else:
+
+        elif mode in ('short', 'long'):
             fmt = '$-_$@$+'
-            if args.long:
+            if mode == 'long':
                 fmt += '$#'
             colify(s.format(fmt, color=True) for s in specs)
+
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Invalid mode for display_specs: %s. Must be one of (paths, deps, short)." % mode)
+
+
+
+def find(parser, args):
+    # Filter out specs that don't exist.
+    query_specs = spack.cmd.parse_specs(args.query_specs)
+    query_specs, nonexisting = partition_list(
+        query_specs, lambda s: spack.db.exists(s.name))
+
+    if nonexisting:
+        msg = "No such package%s: " % ('s' if len(nonexisting) > 1 else '')
+        msg += ", ".join(s.name for s in nonexisting)
+        tty.msg(msg)
+
+        if not query_specs:
+            return
+
+    # Get all the specs the user asked for
+    if not query_specs:
+        specs = set(spack.db.installed_package_specs())
+    else:
+        results = [set(spack.db.get_installed(qs)) for qs in query_specs]
+        specs = set.union(*results)
+
+    if not args.mode:
+        args.mode = 'short'
+    display_specs(specs, mode=args.mode)
+
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
index e422eaf9668751cdffcf9ebe68c7626882cc88e4..709e894b7fadae5d8d91bd06551269c777630cdc 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
@@ -78,38 +78,30 @@ def location(parser, args):
             tty.die("You must supply a spec.")
         if len(specs) != 1:
             tty.die("Too many specs.  Supply only one.")
-        spec = specs[0]
 
         if args.install_dir:
             # install_dir command matches against installed specs.
-            matching_specs = spack.db.get_installed(spec)
-            if not matching_specs:
-                tty.die("Spec '%s' matches no installed packages." % spec)
+            spec = spack.cmd.disambiguate_spec(specs[0])
+            print spec.prefix
 
-            elif len(matching_specs) > 1:
-                tty.error("%s matches multiple packages:" % spec)
-                for s in matching_specs:
-                    sys.stderr.write(s.tree(color=True))
-                    sys.stderr.write("\n")
-                sys.stderr.write("Use a more specific spec.\n")
-                sys.exit(1)
+        else:
+            spec = specs[0]
 
-            print matching_specs[0].prefix
+            if args.package_dir:
+                # This one just needs the spec name.
+                print join_path(spack.db.root, spec.name)
 
-        elif args.package_dir:
-            # This one just needs the spec name.
-            print join_path(spack.db.root, spec.name)
+            else:
+                # These versions need concretized specs.
+                spec.concretize()
+                pkg = spack.db.get(spec)
+
+                if args.stage_dir:
+                    print pkg.stage.path
+
+                else:  #  args.build_dir is the default.
+                    if not pkg.stage.source_path:
+                        tty.die("Build directory does not exist yet. Run this to create it:",
+                                "spack stage " + " ".join(args.spec))
+                    print pkg.stage.source_path
 
-        else:
-            # These versions need concretized specs.
-            spec.concretize()
-            pkg = spack.db.get(spec)
-
-            if args.stage_dir:
-                print pkg.stage.path
-
-            else:  #  args.build_dir is the default.
-                if not pkg.stage.source_path:
-                    tty.die("Build directory does not exist yet. Run this to create it:",
-                            "spack stage " + " ".join(args.spec))
-                print pkg.stage.source_path
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py
index e787c460ad31325deeed0586617a5a87c83eecdc..0962942f4376cf733209b5f4b340e01abdd5e2aa 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ def uninstall(parser, args):
                      "  b) use a more specific spec."]
             tty.die(*args)
 
-
         if len(matching_specs) == 0:
             tty.die("%s does not match any installed packages." % spec)
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/directory_layout.py b/lib/spack/spack/directory_layout.py
index 42cac0c9d21a246a5243ffd00da7570a07ff2a04..efc40a17a4f07ea7ab2ac3d03b2fabaf4e832716 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/directory_layout.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/directory_layout.py
@@ -53,6 +53,19 @@ def __init__(self, root):
         self.root = root
 
 
+    @property
+    def hidden_file_paths(self):
+        """Return a list of hidden files used by the directory layout.
+
+        Paths are relative to the root of an install directory.
+
+        If the directory layout uses no hidden files to maintain
+        state, this should return an empty container, e.g. [] or (,).
+
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+
     def all_specs(self):
         """To be implemented by subclasses to traverse all specs for which there is
            a directory within the root.
@@ -71,6 +84,21 @@ def make_path_for_spec(self, spec):
         raise NotImplementedError()
 
 
+    def get_extensions(self, spec):
+        """Get a set of currently installed extension packages for a spec."""
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+
+    def add_extension(self, spec, extension_spec):
+        """Add to the list of currently installed extensions."""
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+
+    def remove_extension(self, spec, extension_spec):
+        """Remove from the list of currently installed extensions."""
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+
     def path_for_spec(self, spec):
         """Return an absolute path from the root to a directory for the spec."""
         _check_concrete(spec)
@@ -134,9 +162,16 @@ def __init__(self, root, **kwargs):
         """Prefix size is number of characters in the SHA-1 prefix to use
            to make each hash unique.
         """
-        spec_file_name   = kwargs.get('spec_file_name', '.spec')
+        spec_file_name = kwargs.get('spec_file_name', '.spec')
+        extension_file_name = kwargs.get('extension_file_name', '.extensions')
         super(SpecHashDirectoryLayout, self).__init__(root)
         self.spec_file_name = spec_file_name
+        self.extension_file_name = extension_file_name
+
+
+    @property
+    def hidden_file_paths(self):
+        return ('.spec', '.extensions')
 
 
     def relative_path_for_spec(self, spec):
@@ -225,6 +260,62 @@ def all_specs(self):
                 yield spec
 
 
+    def extension_file_path(self, spec):
+        """Gets full path to an installed package's extension file"""
+        _check_concrete(spec)
+        return join_path(self.path_for_spec(spec), self.extension_file_name)
+
+
+    def get_extensions(self, spec):
+        _check_concrete(spec)
+
+        extensions = set()
+        path = self.extension_file_path(spec)
+        if os.path.exists(path):
+            with closing(open(path)) as ext_file:
+                for line in ext_file:
+                    try:
+                        extensions.add(Spec(line.strip()))
+                    except spack.error.SpackError, e:
+                        raise InvalidExtensionSpecError(str(e))
+        return extensions
+
+
+    def write_extensions(self, spec, extensions):
+        path = self.extension_file_path(spec)
+        with closing(open(path, 'w')) as spec_file:
+            for extension in sorted(extensions):
+                spec_file.write("%s\n" % extension)
+
+
+    def add_extension(self, spec, extension_spec):
+        _check_concrete(spec)
+        _check_concrete(extension_spec)
+
+        exts = self.get_extensions(spec)
+        if extension_spec in exts:
+            raise ExtensionAlreadyInstalledError(spec, extension_spec)
+        else:
+            for already_installed in exts:
+                if spec.name == extension_spec.name:
+                    raise ExtensionConflictError(spec, extension_spec, already_installed)
+
+        exts.add(extension_spec)
+        self.write_extensions(spec, exts)
+
+
+    def remove_extension(self, spec, extension_spec):
+        _check_concrete(spec)
+        _check_concrete(extension_spec)
+
+        exts = self.get_extensions(spec)
+        if not extension_spec in exts:
+            raise NoSuchExtensionError(spec, extension_spec)
+
+        exts.remove(extension_spec)
+        self.write_extensions(spec, exts)
+
+
 class DirectoryLayoutError(SpackError):
     """Superclass for directory layout errors."""
     def __init__(self, message):
@@ -250,3 +341,32 @@ class InstallDirectoryAlreadyExistsError(DirectoryLayoutError):
     def __init__(self, path):
         super(InstallDirectoryAlreadyExistsError, self).__init__(
             "Install path %s already exists!")
+
+
+class InvalidExtensionSpecError(DirectoryLayoutError):
+    """Raised when an extension file has a bad spec in it."""
+    def __init__(self, message):
+        super(InvalidExtensionSpecError, self).__init__(message)
+
+
+class ExtensionAlreadyInstalledError(DirectoryLayoutError):
+    """Raised when an extension is added to a package that already has it."""
+    def __init__(self, spec, extension_spec):
+        super(ExtensionAlreadyInstalledError, self).__init__(
+            "%s is already installed in %s" % (extension_spec.short_spec, spec.short_spec))
+
+
+class ExtensionConflictError(DirectoryLayoutError):
+    """Raised when an extension is added to a package that already has it."""
+    def __init__(self, spec, extension_spec, conflict):
+        super(ExtensionConflictError, self).__init__(
+            "%s cannot be installed in %s because it conflicts with %s."% (
+                extension_spec.short_spec, spec.short_spec, conflict.short_spec))
+
+
+class NoSuchExtensionError(DirectoryLayoutError):
+    """Raised when an extension isn't there on remove."""
+    def __init__(self, spec, extension_spec):
+        super(NoSuchExtensionError, self).__init__(
+            "%s cannot be removed from %s because it's not installed."% (
+                extension_spec.short_spec, spec.short_spec))
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/hooks/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/hooks/__init__.py
index 98b7f2323f2a0d9fdd3714c10b5589aa3070a01e..1c44e8abaaaceaffcaed945ef5b891441dff9138 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/hooks/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/hooks/__init__.py
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@
 
    Currently the following hooks are supported:
 
+      * pre_install()
       * post_install()
+      * pre_uninstall()
       * post_uninstall()
 
    This can be used to implement support for things like module
@@ -70,5 +72,8 @@ def __call__(self, pkg):
 #
 # Define some functions that can be called to fire off hooks.
 #
-post_install = HookRunner('post_install')
+pre_install    = HookRunner('pre_install')
+post_install   = HookRunner('post_install')
+
+pre_uninstall  = HookRunner('pre_uninstall')
 post_uninstall = HookRunner('post_uninstall')
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/hooks/extensions.py b/lib/spack/spack/hooks/extensions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..718b24b9655d0d41f382ea2ea7ad3a215c4eb09c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/hooks/extensions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+
+import spack
+
+
+def post_install(pkg):
+    if pkg.is_extension:
+        pkg.do_activate()
+
+
+def pre_uninstall(pkg):
+    # Need to do this b/c uninstall does not automatically do it.
+    # TODO: store full graph info in stored .spec file.
+    pkg.spec.normalize()
+
+    if pkg.is_extension:
+        pkg.do_deactivate()
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py b/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py
index 929c514b6154478b1344ffd550b61ea7112c4588..114c7b6a3536362f4e5864fff4531d9569b110eb 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 
 
 def mirror_archive_filename(spec):
-    """Get the path that this spec will live at within a mirror."""
+    """Get the name of the spec's archive in the mirror."""
     if not spec.version.concrete:
         raise ValueError("mirror.path requires spec with concrete version.")
 
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ def mirror_archive_filename(spec):
     return "%s-%s.%s" % (spec.package.name, spec.version, ext)
 
 
+def mirror_archive_path(spec):
+    """Get the relative path to the spec's archive within a mirror."""
+    return join_path(spec.name, mirror_archive_filename(spec))
+
+
 def get_matching_versions(specs, **kwargs):
     """Get a spec for EACH known version matching any spec in the list."""
     matching = []
@@ -141,12 +146,10 @@ def create(path, specs, **kwargs):
         stage = None
         try:
             # create a subdirectory for the current package@version
-            subdir = join_path(mirror_root, pkg.name)
+            archive_path = join_path(path, mirror_archive_path(spec))
+            subdir = os.path.dirname(archive_path)
             mkdirp(subdir)
 
-            archive_file = mirror_archive_filename(spec)
-            archive_path = join_path(subdir, archive_file)
-
             if os.path.exists(archive_path):
                 tty.msg("Already added %s" % spec.format("$_$@"))
                 present.append(spec)
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/modules.py b/lib/spack/spack/modules.py
index 755e9ea9004020ab2a4f2c6332c63166aa625c0f..7d2ca97a62b8d39cb7cd18fb7f4ef24a50252a63 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/modules.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/modules.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 import re
 import textwrap
 import shutil
+from glob import glob
 from contextlib import closing
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
@@ -123,6 +124,13 @@ def add_path(path_name, directory):
                 if os.path.isdir(directory):
                     add_path(var, directory)
 
+            # Add python path unless it's an actual python installation
+            # TODO: is there a better way to do this?
+            if self.spec.name != 'python':
+                site_packages = glob(join_path(self.spec.prefix.lib, "python*/site-packages"))
+                if site_packages:
+                    add_path('PYTHONPATH', site_packages[0])
+
             # short description is just the package + version
             # TODO: maybe packages can optionally provide it.
             self.short_description = self.spec.format("$_ $@")
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package.py b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
index 1a797e88b1415c1c50ee243e5323469ba56cf7c1..b90596854054e41e8c8ffca3438916f4f7350a42 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/package.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 from StringIO import StringIO
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
+from llnl.util.link_tree import LinkTree
 from llnl.util.filesystem import *
 from llnl.util.lang import *
 
@@ -320,12 +321,21 @@ class SomePackage(Package):
     """Patches to apply to newly expanded source, if any."""
     patches = {}
 
+    """Specs of package this one extends, or None.
+
+    Currently, ppackages can extend at most one other package.
+    """
+    extendees = {}
+
     #
     # These are default values for instance variables.
     #
     """By default we build in parallel.  Subclasses can override this."""
     parallel = True
 
+    """Most packages are NOT extendable.  Set to True if you want extensions."""
+    extendable = False
+
 
     def __init__(self, spec):
         # this determines how the package should be built.
@@ -395,6 +405,9 @@ def ensure_has_dict(attr_name):
         self._fetch_time = 0.0
         self._total_time = 0.0
 
+        if self.is_extension:
+            spack.db.get(self.extendee_spec)._check_extendable()
+
 
     @property
     def version(self):
@@ -459,7 +472,7 @@ def stage(self):
             raise ValueError("Can only get a stage for a concrete package.")
 
         if self._stage is None:
-            mp = spack.mirror.mirror_archive_filename(self.spec)
+            mp = spack.mirror.mirror_archive_path(self.spec)
             self._stage = Stage(
                 self.fetcher, mirror_path=mp, name=self.spec.short_spec)
         return self._stage
@@ -481,6 +494,49 @@ def fetcher(self, f):
         self._fetcher = f
 
 
+    @property
+    def extendee_spec(self):
+        """Spec of the extendee of this package, or None if it is not an extension."""
+        if not self.extendees:
+            return None
+        name = next(iter(self.extendees))
+        if not name in self.spec:
+            spec, kwargs = self.extendees[name]
+            return spec
+
+        # Need to do this to get the concrete version of the spec
+        return self.spec[name]
+
+
+    @property
+    def extendee_args(self):
+        """Spec of the extendee of this package, or None if it is not an extension."""
+        if not self.extendees:
+            return None
+        name = next(iter(self.extendees))
+        return self.extendees[name][1]
+
+
+    @property
+    def is_extension(self):
+        return len(self.extendees) > 0
+
+
+    def extends(self, spec):
+        return (spec.name in self.extendees and
+                spec.satisfies(self.extendees[spec.name][0]))
+
+
+    @property
+    def activated(self):
+        if not self.spec.concrete:
+            raise ValueError("Only concrete package extensions can be activated.")
+        if not self.is_extension:
+            raise ValueError("is_extension called on package that is not an extension.")
+
+        return self.spec in spack.install_layout.get_extensions(self.extendee_spec)
+
+
     def preorder_traversal(self, visited=None, **kwargs):
         """This does a preorder traversal of the package's dependence DAG."""
         virtual = kwargs.get("virtual", False)
@@ -713,6 +769,14 @@ def do_patch(self):
         tty.msg("Patched %s" % self.name)
 
 
+    def do_fake_install(self):
+        """Make a fake install directory contaiing a 'fake' file in bin."""
+        mkdirp(self.prefix.bin)
+        touch(join_path(self.prefix.bin, 'fake'))
+        mkdirp(self.prefix.lib)
+        mkdirp(self.prefix.man1)
+
+
     def do_install(self, **kwargs):
         """This class should call this version of the install method.
            Package implementations should override install().
@@ -733,7 +797,7 @@ def do_install(self, **kwargs):
         tty.msg("Installing %s" % self.name)
 
         if not ignore_deps:
-            self.do_install_dependencies()
+            self.do_install_dependencies(**kwargs)
 
         start_time = time.time()
         if not fake_install:
@@ -757,23 +821,27 @@ def do_install(self, **kwargs):
                 # package naming scheme it likes.
                 spack.install_layout.make_path_for_spec(self.spec)
 
+                # Run the pre-install hook in the child process after
+                # the directory is created.
+                spack.hooks.pre_install(self)
+
                 # Set up process's build environment before running install.
+                self.stage.chdir_to_source()
                 build_env.setup_package(self)
 
+                # Allow extendees to further set up the environment.
+                if self.is_extension:
+                    self.extendee_spec.package.setup_extension_environment(
+                        self.module, self.extendee_spec, self.spec)
+
                 if fake_install:
-                    mkdirp(self.prefix.bin)
-                    touch(join_path(self.prefix.bin, 'fake'))
-                    mkdirp(self.prefix.lib)
-                    mkdirp(self.prefix.man1)
+                    self.do_fake_install()
                 else:
                     # Subclasses implement install() to do the real work.
                     self.install(self.spec, self.prefix)
 
                 # Ensure that something was actually installed.
-                if not os.listdir(self.prefix):
-                    raise InstallError(
-                        "Install failed for %s.  Nothing was installed!"
-                        % self.name)
+                self._sanity_check_install()
 
                 # On successful install, remove the stage.
                 if not keep_stage:
@@ -814,15 +882,23 @@ def do_install(self, **kwargs):
         if returncode != 0:
             sys.exit(1)
 
-
         # Once everything else is done, run post install hooks
         spack.hooks.post_install(self)
 
 
-    def do_install_dependencies(self):
+
+    def _sanity_check_install(self):
+        installed = set(os.listdir(self.prefix))
+        installed.difference_update(spack.install_layout.hidden_file_paths)
+        if not installed:
+            raise InstallError(
+                "Install failed for %s.  Nothing was installed!" % self.name)
+
+
+    def do_install_dependencies(self, **kwargs):
         # Pass along paths of dependencies here
         for dep in self.spec.dependencies.values():
-            dep.package.do_install()
+            dep.package.do_install(**kwargs)
 
 
     @property
@@ -834,6 +910,30 @@ def module(self):
                           fromlist=[self.__class__.__name__])
 
 
+    def setup_extension_environment(self, module, spec, ext_spec):
+        """Called before the install() method of extensions.
+
+        Default implementation does nothing, but this can be
+        overridden by an extendable package to set up the install
+        environment for its extensions.  This is useful if there are
+        some common steps to installing all extensions for a
+        certain package.
+
+        Some examples:
+
+        1. Installing python modules generally requires PYTHONPATH to
+           point to the lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages directory in the
+           module's install prefix.  This could set that variable.
+
+        2. Extensions often need to invoke the 'python' interpreter
+           from the Python installation being extended.  This routine can
+           put a 'python' Execuable object in the module scope for the
+           extension package to simplify extension installs.
+
+        """
+        pass
+
+
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
         """Package implementations override this with their own build configuration."""
         raise InstallError("Package %s provides no install method!" % self.name)
@@ -853,6 +953,10 @@ def do_uninstall(self, **kwargs):
                 "The following installed packages depend on it: %s" %
                 ' '.join(formatted_deps))
 
+        # Pre-uninstall hook runs first.
+        spack.hooks.pre_uninstall(self)
+
+        # Uninstalling in Spack only requires removing the prefix.
         self.remove_prefix()
         tty.msg("Successfully uninstalled %s." % self.spec.short_spec)
 
@@ -860,6 +964,88 @@ def do_uninstall(self, **kwargs):
         spack.hooks.post_uninstall(self)
 
 
+    def _check_extendable(self):
+        if not self.extendable:
+            raise ValueError("Package %s is not extendable!" % self.name)
+
+
+    def _sanity_check_extension(self):
+        if not self.is_extension:
+            raise ValueError("This package is not an extension.")
+        extendee_package = self.extendee_spec.package
+        extendee_package._check_extendable()
+
+        if not extendee_package.installed:
+            raise ValueError("Can only (de)activate extensions for installed packages.")
+        if not self.installed:
+            raise ValueError("Extensions must first be installed.")
+        if not self.extendee_spec.name in self.extendees:
+            raise ValueError("%s does not extend %s!" % (self.name, self.extendee.name))
+
+
+    def do_activate(self):
+        """Called on an etension to invoke the extendee's activate method.
+
+        Commands should call this routine, and should not call
+        activate() directly.
+        """
+        self._sanity_check_extension()
+        self.extendee_spec.package.activate(self, **self.extendee_args)
+
+        spack.install_layout.add_extension(self.extendee_spec, self.spec)
+        tty.msg("Activated extension %s for %s."
+                % (self.spec.short_spec, self.extendee_spec.short_spec))
+
+
+    def activate(self, extension, **kwargs):
+        """Symlinks all files from the extension into extendee's install dir.
+
+        Package authors can override this method to support other
+        extension mechanisms.  Spack internals (commands, hooks, etc.)
+        should call do_activate() method so that proper checks are
+        always executed.
+
+        """
+        def ignore(filename):
+            return (filename in spack.install_layout.hidden_file_paths or
+                    kwargs.get('ignore', lambda f: False)(filename))
+
+        tree = LinkTree(extension.prefix)
+        conflict = tree.find_conflict(self.prefix, ignore=ignore)
+        if conflict:
+            raise ExtensionConflictError(conflict)
+        tree.merge(self.prefix, ignore=ignore)
+
+
+    def do_deactivate(self):
+        """Called on the extension to invoke extendee's deactivate() method."""
+        self._sanity_check_extension()
+        self.extendee_spec.package.deactivate(self, **self.extendee_args)
+
+        if self.spec in spack.install_layout.get_extensions(self.extendee_spec):
+            spack.install_layout.remove_extension(self.extendee_spec, self.spec)
+
+        tty.msg("Deactivated extension %s for %s."
+                % (self.spec.short_spec, self.extendee_spec.short_spec))
+
+
+    def deactivate(self, extension, **kwargs):
+        """Unlinks all files from extension out of this package's install dir.
+
+        Package authors can override this method to support other
+        extension mechanisms.  Spack internals (commands, hooks, etc.)
+        should call do_deactivate() method so that proper checks are
+        always executed.
+
+        """
+        def ignore(filename):
+            return (filename in spack.install_layout.hidden_file_paths or
+                    kwargs.get('ignore', lambda f: False)(filename))
+
+        tree = LinkTree(extension.prefix)
+        tree.unmerge(self.prefix, ignore=ignore)
+
+
     def do_clean(self):
         if self.stage.expanded_archive_path:
             self.stage.chdir_to_source()
@@ -925,6 +1111,23 @@ def fetch_remote_versions(self):
                     e.url, e.message)
 
 
+    @property
+    def rpath(self):
+        """Get the rpath this package links with, as a list of paths."""
+        rpaths = [self.prefix.lib, self.prefix.lib64]
+        rpaths.extend(d.prefix.lib for d in self.spec.traverse(root=False)
+                      if os.path.isdir(d.prefix.lib))
+        rpaths.extend(d.prefix.lib64 for d in self.spec.traverse(root=False)
+                      if os.path.isdir(d.prefix.lib64))
+        return rpaths
+
+
+    @property
+    def rpath_args(self):
+        """Get the rpath args as a string, with -Wl,-rpath= for each element."""
+        return " ".join("-Wl,-rpath=%s" % p for p in self.rpath)
+
+
 def find_versions_of_archive(*archive_urls, **kwargs):
     list_url   = kwargs.get('list_url', None)
     list_depth = kwargs.get('list_depth', 1)
@@ -1034,3 +1237,9 @@ class NoURLError(PackageError):
     def __init__(self, cls):
         super(NoURLError, self).__init__(
             "Package %s has no version with a URL." % cls.__name__)
+
+
+class ExtensionConflictError(PackageError):
+    def __init__(self, path):
+        super(ExtensionConflictError, self).__init__(
+            "Extension blocked by file: %s" % path)
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/packages.py b/lib/spack/spack/packages.py
index db43d3909adc3eb78d347f2d5fe71bcdd873f02f..7ef8135c1a9cb22cfee188f5971b053c300b37f7 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/packages.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/packages.py
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ def get(self, spec, **kwargs):
                 copy = spec.copy()
                 self.instances[copy] = package_class(copy)
             except Exception, e:
+                if spack.debug:
+                    sys.excepthook(*sys.exc_info())
                 raise FailedConstructorError(spec.name, e)
 
         return self.instances[spec]
@@ -110,6 +112,17 @@ def providers_for(self, vpkg_spec):
         return providers
 
 
+    @_autospec
+    def extensions_for(self, extendee_spec):
+        return [p for p in self.all_packages() if p.extends(extendee_spec)]
+
+
+    @_autospec
+    def installed_extensions_for(self, extendee_spec):
+        return [s.package for s in self.installed_package_specs()
+                if s.package.extends(extendee_spec)]
+
+
     def dirname_for_package_name(self, pkg_name):
         """Get the directory name for a particular package.  This is the
            directory that contains its package.py file."""
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/relations.py b/lib/spack/spack/relations.py
index b1f43489454f66be544db50fa126d9d8ed5bee3a..a0c7723473c23b48124846a479490300eade85f9 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/relations.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/relations.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class Mpileaks(Package):
         spack install mpileaks ^mvapich
         spack install mpileaks ^mpich
 """
-__all__ = [ 'depends_on', 'provides', 'patch', 'version' ]
+__all__ = [ 'depends_on', 'extends', 'provides', 'patch', 'version' ]
 
 import re
 import inspect
@@ -107,8 +107,9 @@ def depends_on(*specs):
     """Adds a dependencies local variable in the locals of
        the calling class, based on args. """
     pkg = get_calling_package_name()
+    clocals = caller_locals()
+    dependencies = clocals.setdefault('dependencies', {})
 
-    dependencies = caller_locals().setdefault('dependencies', {})
     for string in specs:
         for spec in spack.spec.parse(string):
             if pkg == spec.name:
@@ -116,6 +117,34 @@ def depends_on(*specs):
             dependencies[spec.name] = spec
 
 
+def extends(spec, **kwargs):
+    """Same as depends_on, but dependency is symlinked into parent prefix.
+
+    This is for Python and other language modules where the module
+    needs to be installed into the prefix of the Python installation.
+    Spack handles this by installing modules into their own prefix,
+    but allowing ONE module version to be symlinked into a parent
+    Python install at a time.
+
+    keyword arguments can be passed to extends() so that extension
+    packages can pass parameters to the extendee's extension
+    mechanism.
+
+    """
+    pkg = get_calling_package_name()
+    clocals = caller_locals()
+    dependencies = clocals.setdefault('dependencies', {})
+    extendees = clocals.setdefault('extendees', {})
+    if extendees:
+        raise RelationError("Packages can extend at most one other package.")
+
+    spec = Spec(spec)
+    if pkg == spec.name:
+        raise CircularReferenceError('extends', pkg)
+    dependencies[spec.name] = spec
+    extendees[spec.name] = (spec, kwargs)
+
+
 def provides(*specs, **kwargs):
     """Allows packages to provide a virtual dependency.  If a package provides
        'mpi', other packages can declare that they depend on "mpi", and spack
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/spec.py b/lib/spack/spack/spec.py
index 2f4fe9ca24d93b1c2c07ab5c2d0e1627f3f06860..dffdccaddb948434a6a58693781c9b7f47bbc3b3 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/spec.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/spec.py
@@ -552,6 +552,13 @@ def short_spec(self):
         return self.format('$_$@$%@$+$=$#')
 
 
+    @property
+    def cshort_spec(self):
+        """Returns a version of the spec with the dependencies hashed
+           instead of completely enumerated."""
+        return self.format('$_$@$%@$+$=$#', color=True)
+
+
     @property
     def prefix(self):
         return Prefix(spack.install_layout.path_for_spec(self))
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py
index 0eda667abc0ea0c0d57e16be1b15c84af72a8a86..c53e6774fc869802c4b4e8dc97d3ba7db0d75539 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@
               'hg_fetch',
               'mirror',
               'url_extrapolate',
-              'cc']
+              'cc',
+              'link_tree']
 
 
 def list_tests():
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/link_tree.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/link_tree.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bc7c2c6b5e25ee50e2c313d37ce2e528a440198f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/link_tree.py
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+import os
+import unittest
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+from contextlib import closing
+
+from llnl.util.filesystem import *
+from llnl.util.link_tree import LinkTree
+
+from spack.stage import Stage
+
+
+class LinkTreeTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Tests Spack's LinkTree class."""
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.stage = Stage('link-tree-test')
+
+        with working_dir(self.stage.path):
+            touchp('source/1')
+            touchp('source/a/b/2')
+            touchp('source/a/b/3')
+            touchp('source/c/4')
+            touchp('source/c/d/5')
+            touchp('source/c/d/6')
+            touchp('source/c/d/e/7')
+
+        source_path = os.path.join(self.stage.path, 'source')
+        self.link_tree = LinkTree(source_path)
+
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        if self.stage:
+            self.stage.destroy()
+
+
+    def check_file_link(self, filename):
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(filename))
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.islink(filename))
+
+
+    def check_dir(self, filename):
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir(filename))
+
+
+    def test_merge_to_new_directory(self):
+        with working_dir(self.stage.path):
+            self.link_tree.merge('dest')
+
+            self.check_file_link('dest/1')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/a/b/2')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/a/b/3')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/4')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/d/5')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/d/6')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/d/e/7')
+
+            self.link_tree.unmerge('dest')
+
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest'))
+
+
+    def test_merge_to_existing_directory(self):
+        with working_dir(self.stage.path):
+
+            touchp('dest/x')
+            touchp('dest/a/b/y')
+
+            self.link_tree.merge('dest')
+
+            self.check_file_link('dest/1')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/a/b/2')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/a/b/3')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/4')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/d/5')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/d/6')
+            self.check_file_link('dest/c/d/e/7')
+
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('dest/x'))
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('dest/a/b/y'))
+
+            self.link_tree.unmerge('dest')
+
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('dest/x'))
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('dest/a/b/y'))
+
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/1'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/a/b/2'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/a/b/3'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/c/4'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/c/d/5'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/c/d/6'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.isfile('dest/c/d/e/7'))
+
+
+    def test_merge_with_empty_directories(self):
+        with working_dir(self.stage.path):
+            mkdirp('dest/f/g')
+            mkdirp('dest/a/b/h')
+
+            self.link_tree.merge('dest')
+            self.link_tree.unmerge('dest')
+
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/1'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/a/b/2'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/a/b/3'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/c/4'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/c/d/5'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/c/d/6'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/c/d/e/7'))
+
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir('dest/a/b/h'))
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir('dest/f/g'))
+
+
+    def test_ignore(self):
+        with working_dir(self.stage.path):
+            touchp('source/.spec')
+            touchp('dest/.spec')
+
+            self.link_tree.merge('dest', ignore=lambda x: x == '.spec')
+            self.link_tree.unmerge('dest', ignore=lambda x: x == '.spec')
+
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/1'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/a'))
+            self.assertFalse(os.path.exists('dest/c'))
+
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('source/.spec'))
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('dest/.spec'))
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py
index 51334198ecde319df1177c7f8c96bafb4ea36502..89ab14359efed1ce7757d8a29964f0ebd6035301 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def setUp(self):
         self.repos = {}
 
 
-    def set_up_package(self, name, mock_repo_class, url_attr):
+    def set_up_package(self, name, MockRepoClass, url_attr):
         """Use this to set up a mock package to be mirrored.
            Each package needs us to:
              1. Set up a mock repo/archive to fetch from.
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def set_up_package(self, name, mock_repo_class, url_attr):
 
         # Get the package and fix its fetch args to point to a mock repo
         pkg = spack.db.get(spec)
-        repo = mock_repo_class()
+        repo = MockRepoClass()
         self.repos[name] = repo
 
         # change the fetch args of the first (only) version.
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ def tearDown(self):
 
         for name, repo in self.repos.items():
             if repo.stage:
-                repo.stage.destroy()
+                pass #repo.stage.destroy()
 
         self.repos.clear()
 
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ def check_mirror(self):
                     self.assertTrue(all(l in exclude for l in dcmp.left_only))
 
         finally:
-            stage.destroy()
+            pass #stage.destroy()
 
 
     def test_git_mirror(self):
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/cloog/package.py b/var/spack/packages/cloog/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..814a33c76c2d41a633909585342ff68064a60549
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/cloog/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class Cloog(Package):
+    """CLooG is a free software and library to generate code for
+    scanning Z-polyhedra. That is, it finds a code (e.g. in C,
+    FORTRAN...) that reaches each integral point of one or more
+    parameterized polyhedra."""
+
+    homepage = "http://www.cloog.org"
+    url      = "http://www.bastoul.net/cloog/pages/download/count.php3?url=./cloog-0.18.1.tar.gz"
+    list_url = "http://www.bastoul.net/cloog/pages/download"
+
+    version('0.18.1', 'e34fca0540d840e5d0f6427e98c92252')
+    version('0.18.0', 'be78a47bd82523250eb3e91646db5b3d')
+    version('0.17.0', '0aa3302c81f65ca62c114e5264f8a802')
+
+    depends_on("gmp")
+    depends_on("isl")
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        configure("--prefix=%s" % prefix,
+                  "--with-osl=no",
+                  "--with-isl=%s" % spec['isl'].prefix,
+                  "--with-gmp=%s" % spec['gmp'].prefix)
+        make()
+        make("install")
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/gcc/package.py b/var/spack/packages/gcc/package.py
index da0debd5dcacd5fdca2f7e6a061e3556da46efd2..3da6c25d47b87b6892c3af0cb210a4b13cc034c8 100644
--- a/var/spack/packages/gcc/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/packages/gcc/package.py
@@ -32,29 +32,46 @@ class Gcc(Package):
        Objective-C, Fortran, and Java."""
     homepage = "https://gcc.gnu.org"
 
+    url = "http://open-source-box.org/gcc/gcc-4.9.2/gcc-4.9.2.tar.bz2"
     list_url = 'http://open-source-box.org/gcc/'
     list_depth = 2
 
-    version('4.9.2', '4df8ee253b7f3863ad0b86359cd39c43',
-            url="http://open-source-box.org/gcc/gcc-4.9.2/gcc-4.9.2.tar.bz2")
-    version('4.9.1', 'fddf71348546af523353bd43d34919c1',
-            url="http://open-source-box.org/gcc/gcc-4.9.1/gcc-4.9.1.tar.bz2")
+    version('4.9.2', '4df8ee253b7f3863ad0b86359cd39c43')
+    version('4.9.1', 'fddf71348546af523353bd43d34919c1')
+    version('4.8.4', '5a84a30839b2aca22a2d723de2a626ec')
+    version('4.7.4', '4c696da46297de6ae77a82797d2abe28')
+    version('4.6.4', 'b407a3d1480c11667f293bfb1f17d1a4')
+    version('4.5.4', '27e459c2566b8209ab064570e1b378f7')
 
-    depends_on("mpc")
     depends_on("mpfr")
     depends_on("gmp")
+    depends_on("mpc")     # when @4.5:
     depends_on("libelf")
 
+    # Save these until we can do optional deps.
+    #depends_on("isl")
+    #depends_on("ppl")
+    #depends_on("cloog")
 
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
         # libjava/configure needs a minor fix to install into spack paths.
         filter_file(r"'@.*@'", "'@[[:alnum:]]*@'", 'libjava/configure', string=True)
 
+        enabled_languages = set(('c', 'c++', 'fortran', 'java', 'objc'))
+        if spec.satisfies("@4.7.1:"):
+            enabled_languages.add('go')
+
         # Rest of install is straightforward.
         configure("--prefix=%s" % prefix,
                   "--libdir=%s/lib64" % prefix,
                   "--disable-multilib",
-                  "--enable-languages=c,c++,fortran,java,objc,go",
+                  "--enable-languages=" + ','.join(enabled_languages),
+                  "--with-mpc=%s"    % spec['mpc'].prefix,
+                  "--with-mpfr=%s"   % spec['mpfr'].prefix,
+                  "--with-gmp=%s"    % spec['gmp'].prefix,
+                  "--with-libelf=%s" % spec['libelf'].prefix,
+                  "--with-stage1-ldflags=%s" % self.rpath_args,
+                  "--with-boot-ldflags=%s"   % self.rpath_args,
                   "--enable-lto",
                   "--with-quad")
         make()
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/hdf5/package.py b/var/spack/packages/hdf5/package.py
index 615c2a7fe4b8e1b3f3e3dcd79c29ba7c811656b0..992dd8ec700bc972749913c54dff54e1eaecb4cd 100644
--- a/var/spack/packages/hdf5/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/packages/hdf5/package.py
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ class Hdf5(Package):
 
     # TODO: currently hard-coded to use OpenMPI
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
+
         configure(
             "--prefix=%s" % prefix,
             "--with-zlib=%s" % spec['zlib'].prefix,
             "--enable-parallel",
-            "CC=%s" % spec['openmpi'].prefix.bin + "/mpicc",
-            "CXX=%s" % spec['openmpi'].prefix.bin + "/mpic++")
+            "--enable-shared",
+            "CC=%s" % spec['mpich'].prefix.bin + "/mpicc",
+            "CXX=%s" % spec['mpich'].prefix.bin + "/mpic++")
 
         make()
         make("install")
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/isl/package.py b/var/spack/packages/isl/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..836ef3ea40889b47162366b5f5e048060f4b0e8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/isl/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class Isl(Package):
+    """isl is a thread-safe C library for manipulating sets and
+    relations of integer points bounded by affine constraints."""
+    homepage = "http://isl.gforge.inria.fr"
+    url      = "http://isl.gforge.inria.fr/isl-0.14.tar.bz2"
+
+    version('0.14', 'acd347243fca5609e3df37dba47fd0bb')
+
+    depends_on("gmp")
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        configure("--prefix=%s" % prefix,
+                  "--with-gmp-prefix=%s" % spec['gmp'].prefix)
+        make()
+        make("install")
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/ppl/package.py b/var/spack/packages/ppl/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..018d5c523da084eb74447997bc218153c11f6246
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/ppl/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class Ppl(Package):
+    """The Parma Polyhedra Library (PPL) provides numerical
+    abstractions especially targeted at applications in the field of
+    analysis and verification of complex systems. These abstractions
+    include convex polyhedra, some special classes of polyhedra shapes
+    that offer interesting complexity/precision tradeoffs, and grids
+    which represent regularly spaced points that satisfy a set of
+    linear congruence relations. The library also supports finite
+    powersets and products of polyhedra and grids, a mixed integer
+    linear programming problem solver using an exact-arithmetic
+    version of the simplex algorithm, a parametric integer programming
+    solver, and primitives for termination analysis via the automatic
+    synthesis of linear ranking functions."""
+
+    homepage = "http://bugseng.com/products/ppl/"
+    url      = "http://bugseng.com/products/ppl/download/ftp/releases/1.1/ppl-1.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.1', '4f2422c0ef3f409707af32108deb30a7')
+
+    depends_on("gmp")
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        configure("--prefix=%s" % prefix,
+                  "--with-gmp=%s" % spec['gmp'].prefix)
+        make()
+        make("install")
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-basemap/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-basemap/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7b6d8e7e657d943a0bb41dee8c7f369c9c8c64cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-basemap/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+from spack import *
+import os
+
+class PyBasemap(Package):
+    """The matplotlib basemap toolkit is a library for plotting 2D data on maps in Python."""
+    homepage = "http://matplotlib.org/basemap/"
+    url      = "https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/matplotlib/matplotlib-toolkits/basemap-1.0.7/basemap-1.0.7.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.0.7', '48c0557ced9e2c6e440b28b3caff2de8')
+
+    geos_version = {'1.0.7' : '3.3.3'}
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-setuptools')
+    depends_on('py-numpy')
+    depends_on('py-matplotlib')
+    depends_on('py-pil')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        with working_dir('geos-%s' % self.geos_version[str(self.version)]):
+            configure("--prefix=" + prefix)
+            make()
+            make("install")
+        os.environ['GEOS_DIR'] = prefix
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-biopython/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-biopython/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2ed04c389e705e04f7fa08b918bc36d456442676
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-biopython/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyBiopython(Package):
+    """It is a distributed collaborative effort to develop Python libraries and applications which address the needs of current and future work in bioinformatics."""
+    homepage = "http://biopython.org/wiki/Main_Page"
+    url      = "http://biopython.org/DIST/biopython-1.65.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.65', '143e7861ade85c0a8b5e2bbdd1da1f67')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-mx')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-cython/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-cython/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..af67a15526480083a7d7c48c14b92c73fb80abe8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-cython/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyCython(Package):
+    """The Cython compiler for writing C extensions for the Python language."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cython"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/C/Cython/Cython-0.21.2.tar.gz"
+
+    version('0.21.2', 'd21adb870c75680dc857cd05d41046a4')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-dateutil/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-dateutil/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..11699e07ee5ac0d08a0e8e5d66c45ed8acca1a29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-dateutil/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyDateutil(Package):
+    """Extensions to the standard Python datetime module."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dateutil"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/python-dateutil/python-dateutil-2.4.0.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.4.0', '75714163bb96bedd07685cdb2071b8bc')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-setuptools')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-epydoc/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-epydoc/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..af055105043c0baf74806589c9ed67f1dd97ecfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-epydoc/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyEpydoc(Package):
+    """Epydoc is a tool for generating API documentation documentation for Python modules, based on their docstrings."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/epydoc"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/e/epydoc/epydoc-3.0.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('3.0.1', '36407974bd5da2af00bf90ca27feeb44')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-gnuplot/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-gnuplot/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0a2c073a491af6aa789d6839756301614baeeb2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-gnuplot/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyGnuplot(Package):
+    """Gnuplot.py is a Python package that allows you to create graphs from within Python using the gnuplot plotting program."""
+    homepage = "http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/"
+    url      = "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/gnuplot-py/Gnuplot-py/1.8/gnuplot-py-1.8.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.8', 'abd6f571e7aec68ae7db90a5217cd5b1')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-h5py/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-h5py/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f72b3ac06ea3ba8fbd41c5744fc3fbabc4132942
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-h5py/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from spack import *
+import re
+
+class PyH5py(Package):
+    """The h5py package provides both a high- and low-level interface to the HDF5 library from Python."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/h5py"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/h/h5py/h5py-2.4.0.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.4.0', '80c9a94ae31f84885cc2ebe1323d6758')
+
+    extends('python', ignore=lambda f: re.match(r'cy*', f))
+    depends_on('hdf5')
+    depends_on('py-numpy')
+    depends_on('py-cython')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'configure', '--hdf5=%s' % spec['hdf5'].prefix)
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-ipython/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-ipython/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..731e661dfda9462e35d4a3b5673c04692775e362
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-ipython/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyIpython(Package):
+    """IPython provides a rich toolkit to help you make the most out of using Python interactively."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ipython"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/i/ipython/ipython-2.3.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.3.1', '2b7085525dac11190bfb45bb8ec8dcbf')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-pygments')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-libxml2/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-libxml2/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0dcefbd9cf897ba088aec5f663d92b2b49db9d30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-libxml2/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyLibxml2(Package):
+    """A Python wrapper around libxml2."""
+    homepage = "https://xmlsoft.org/python.html"
+    url      = "ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/python/libxml2-python-2.6.21.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.6.21', '229dd2b3d110a77defeeaa73af83f7f3')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5979ceeab0d602cf6c89553b96ff24db5da9daf5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+from spack import *
+import os
+
+class PyMatplotlib(Package):
+    """Python plotting package."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/matplotlib"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/m/matplotlib/matplotlib-1.4.2.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.4.2', '7d22efb6cce475025733c50487bd8898')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-pyside')
+    depends_on('py-ipython')
+    depends_on('py-pyparsing')
+    depends_on('py-six')
+    depends_on('py-dateutil')
+    depends_on('py-pytz')
+    depends_on('py-nose')
+    depends_on('py-numpy')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
+        if str(self.version) == '1.4.2':
+            # hack to fix configuration file
+            config_file = None
+            for p,d,f in os.walk(prefix.lib):
+                for file in f:
+                    if file.find('matplotlibrc') != -1:
+                        config_file = join_path(p, 'matplotlibrc')
+                        print config_file
+            if config_file == None:
+                raise InstallError('could not find config file')
+            filter_file(r'backend      : pyside',
+                        'backend      : Qt4Agg',
+                        config_file)
+            filter_file(r'#backend.qt4 : PyQt4',
+                        'backend.qt4 : PySide',
+                        config_file)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-mpi4py/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-mpi4py/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fdea340dc211e360dd837ddd9dacf481372e1ca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-mpi4py/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyMpi4py(Package):
+    """This package provides Python bindings for the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard. It is implemented on top of the MPI-1/MPI-2 specification and exposes an API which grounds on the standard MPI-2 C++ bindings."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/mpi4py"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/m/mpi4py/mpi4py-1.3.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.3.1', 'dbe9d22bdc8ed965c23a7ceb6f32fc3c')
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('mpi')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-mx/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-mx/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..717ee0562b6a3cac5737eff61876eb750d577fb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-mx/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyMx(Package):
+    """The eGenix.com mx Base Distribution for Python is a collection of professional quality software tools which enhance Python's usability in many important areas such as fast text searching, date/time processing and high speed data types."""
+    homepage = "http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxBase/"
+    url      = "https://downloads.egenix.com/python/egenix-mx-base-3.2.8.tar.gz"
+
+    version('3.2.8', '9d9d3a25f9dc051a15e97f452413423b')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-nose/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-nose/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6df84e831d1674a760db84d6209a6d330a5af547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-nose/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyNose(Package):
+    """nose extends the test loading and running features of unittest,
+    making it easier to write, find and run tests."""
+
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/nose"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/n/nose/nose-1.3.4.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.3.4', '6ed7169887580ddc9a8e16048d38274d')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-numpy/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-numpy/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e6cb6a464f4b5f9dc22e4c215efe791457fd41ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-numpy/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyNumpy(Package):
+    """array processing for numbers, strings, records, and objects."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/numpy"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/n/numpy/numpy-1.9.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.9.1', '78842b73560ec378142665e712ae4ad9')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-nose')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pexpect/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pexpect/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ff5fac84e0600e21bfee384f9768cda8244402d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pexpect/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPexpect(Package):
+    """Pexpect allows easy control of interactive console applications."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pexpect"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pexpect/pexpect-3.3.tar.gz"
+
+    version('3.3', '0de72541d3f1374b795472fed841dce8')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pil/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pil/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..743b7619817a8af0763c42c169d5a6657eeb9767
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pil/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPil(Package):
+    """The Python Imaging Library (PIL) adds image processing capabilities to your Python interpreter. This library supports many file formats, and provides powerful image processing and graphics capabilities."""
+
+    homepage = "http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/"
+    url      = "http://effbot.org/media/downloads/Imaging-1.1.7.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.1.7', 'fc14a54e1ce02a0225be8854bfba478e')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pmw/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pmw/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..56131811e9bbe95c729c965fcb131fd965eeebd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pmw/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPmw(Package):
+    """Pmw is a toolkit for building high-level compound widgets, or megawidgets, constructed using other widgets as component parts."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pmw"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/P/Pmw/Pmw-2.0.0.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.0.0', 'c7c3f26c4f5abaa99807edefee578fc0')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pychecker/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pychecker/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bda5a746aaac506664383de76867b847d216d5f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pychecker/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPychecker(Package):
+    """"""
+    homepage = "http://pychecker.sourceforge.net/"
+    url      = "http://sourceforge.net/projects/pychecker/files/pychecker/0.8.19/pychecker-0.8.19.tar.gz"
+
+    version('0.8.19', 'c37182863dfb09209d6ba4f38fce9d2b')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pygments/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pygments/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..990eebde65035b4a9e41940840766ca4edc81ba9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pygments/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPygments(Package):
+    """Pygments is a syntax highlighting package written in Python."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pygments"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/P/Pygments/Pygments-2.0.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.0.1', 'e0daf4c14a4fe5b630da765904de4d6c')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-setuptools')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pylint/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pylint/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ebde861f9476c1853ea3b9ee83eafe433d36f588
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pylint/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from spack import *
+import re
+
+class PyPylint(Package):
+    """array processing for numbers, strings, records, and objects."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pylint"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pylint/pylint-1.4.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.4.1', 'df7c679bdcce5019389038847e4de622')
+
+#    extends('python')
+    extends('python', ignore=lambda f:re.match(r"site.py*", f))
+    depends_on('py-nose')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pyparsing/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pyparsing/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a6e50ad1398c1a74b9989b0a2c673b1ed3afbf4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pyparsing/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPyparsing(Package):
+    """A Python Parsing Module."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyparsing"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pyparsing/pyparsing-2.0.3.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.0.3', '0fe479be09fc2cf005f753d3acc35939')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pyqt4/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pyqt4/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..eeb13825605a145ed05bc75b3350a6aa605aaa68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pyqt4/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPyqt4(Package):
+    """PyQt is a set of Python v2 and v3 bindings for Digia's Qt application framework and runs on all platforms supported by Qt including Windows, MacOS/X and Linux."""
+    homepage = "http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro"
+    url      = "http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyqt/files/PyQt4/PyQt-4.11.3/PyQt-x11-gpl-4.11.3.tar.gz"
+
+    version('4.11.3', '997c3e443165a89a559e0d96b061bf70')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('qt')
+    depends_on('py-sip')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        version_array = str(spec['python'].version).split('.')
+        python('configure.py', '--confirm-license', '--destdir=%s/python%s.%s/site-packages' %(self.prefix.lib, version_array[0], version_array[1]))
+        make()
+        make('install')
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pyside/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pyside/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b01e16d7e6ccf32d6b2a393e71206836ec3df4a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pyside/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from spack import *
+import spack.package
+import os
+
+class PyPyside(Package):
+    """array processing for numbers, strings, records, and objects."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyside"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/P/PySide/PySide-1.2.2.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.2.2', 'c45bc400c8a86d6b35f34c29e379e44d')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        qmake_path = '/usr/lib64/qt4/bin/qmake'
+        if not os.path.exists(qmake_path):
+            raise spack.package.InstallError("Failed to find qmake in %s" % qmake_path)
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix, '--qmake=%s' % qmake_path)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-pytz/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-pytz/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..80bcfe82ca91e04de8cc7a5bc2786074f5da7777
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-pytz/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyPytz(Package):
+    """World timezone definitions, modern and historical."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytz"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pytz/pytz-2014.10.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2014.10', 'eb1cb941a20c5b751352c52486aa1dd7')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-rpy2/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-rpy2/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3817059911d304a8e28566edaa48c57fc7db4f4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-rpy2/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyRpy2(Package):
+    """rpy2 is a redesign and rewrite of rpy. It is providing a low-level interface to R from Python, a proposed high-level interface, including wrappers to graphical libraries, as well as R-like structures and functions."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rpy2"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/r/rpy2/rpy2-2.5.4.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.5.4', '115a20ac30883f096da2bdfcab55196d')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-setuptools')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-scientificpython/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-scientificpython/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..73600e6cb97d6469e37d0e583e8123d061a2fe12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-scientificpython/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyScientificpython(Package):
+    """ScientificPython is a collection of Python modules for scientific computing. It contains support for geometry, mathematical functions, statistics, physical units, IO, visualization, and parallelization."""
+    homepage = "https://sourcesup.renater.fr/projects/scientific-py/"
+    url      = "https://sourcesup.renater.fr/frs/download.php/4411/ScientificPython-2.8.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('2.8.1', '73ee0df19c7b58cdf2954261f0763c77')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-scikit-learn/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-scikit-learn/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c59c05a619010a27b9e64448cb48565b93412800
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-scikit-learn/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyScikitLearn(Package):
+    """"""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/scikit-learn"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/scikit-learn/scikit-learn-0.15.2.tar.gz"
+
+    version('0.15.2', 'd9822ad0238e17b382a3c756ea94fe0d')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-scipy/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-scipy/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b5325b919f337064d5a5d5bae110eab39fa8cc5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-scipy/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PyScipy(Package):
+    """Scientific Library for Python."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/scipy"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/scipy/scipy-0.15.0.tar.gz"
+
+    version('0.15.0', '639112f077f0aeb6d80718dc5019dc7a')
+
+    extends('python')
+    depends_on('py-nose')
+    depends_on('py-numpy')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-setuptools/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-setuptools/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..755288d55c3d0108c8afaf8fddc6c38300757351
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-setuptools/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PySetuptools(Package):
+    """Easily download, build, install, upgrade, and uninstall Python packages."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/setuptools/setuptools-11.3.tar.gz"
+
+    version('11.3.1', '01f69212e019a2420c1693fb43593930')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-sip/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-sip/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..06aea35a7452726666d5c3d912a99521f4bfb9b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-sip/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PySip(Package):
+    """SIP is a tool that makes it very easy to create Python bindings for C and C++ libraries."""
+    homepage = "http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/sip/intro"
+    url      = "http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyqt/files/sip/sip-4.16.5/sip-4.16.5.tar.gz"
+
+    version('4.16.5', '6d01ea966a53e4c7ae5c5e48c40e49e5')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('configure.py')
+        make()
+        make('install')
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-six/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-six/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..04d29adcedfbc3ca1478db02e950e069e1337a2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-six/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PySix(Package):
+    """Python 2 and 3 compatibility utilities."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/six/six-1.9.0.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.9.0', '476881ef4012262dfc8adc645ee786c4')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-sympy/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-sympy/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c17e35b95f159d7cf505e53b5df10fcacfa0943a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-sympy/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class PySympy(Package):
+    """SymPy is a Python library for symbolic mathematics."""
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sympy"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/sympy/sympy-0.7.6.tar.gz"
+
+    version('0.7.6', '3d04753974306d8a13830008e17babca')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/py-virtualenv/package.py b/var/spack/packages/py-virtualenv/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c1b359e16490339b8dc707b925e5b3e34df6be58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/py-virtualenv/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from spack import *
+import shutil
+
+class PyVirtualenv(Package):
+    """virtualenv is a tool to create isolated Python environments."""
+    homepage = "http://virtualenv.readthedocs.org/projects/virtualenv/"
+    url      = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/v/virtualenv/virtualenv-1.11.6.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.11.6', 'f61cdd983d2c4e6aeabb70b1060d6f49')
+
+    extends('python')
+
+    def clean(self):
+        if os.path.exists('build'):
+            shutil.rmtree('build')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/python/package.py b/var/spack/packages/python/package.py
index e6c3e28820afededae78bf3b84ff6935753ca664..8a6d574d9b26695ec27105527a6e2a73d026d765 100644
--- a/var/spack/packages/python/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/packages/python/package.py
@@ -1,10 +1,17 @@
 from spack import *
+import spack
+import os
+import re
+from contextlib import closing
+
 
 class Python(Package):
     """The Python programming language."""
     homepage = "http://www.python.org"
     url      = "http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.8/Python-2.7.8.tar.xz"
 
+    extendable = True
+
     version('2.7.8', 'd235bdfa75b8396942e360a70487ee00')
 
     depends_on("openssl")
@@ -23,3 +30,118 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
                   "--enable-shared")
         make()
         make("install")
+
+
+    # ========================================================================
+    # Set up environment to make install easy for python extensions.
+    # ========================================================================
+
+    @property
+    def python_lib_dir(self):
+        return os.path.join('lib', 'python%d.%d' % self.version[:2])
+
+
+    @property
+    def site_packages_dir(self):
+        return os.path.join(self.python_lib_dir, 'site-packages')
+
+
+    def setup_extension_environment(self, module, spec, ext_spec):
+        """Called before python modules' install() methods.
+
+        In most cases, extensions will only need to have one line::
+
+            python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
+        """
+        # Python extension builds can have a global python executable function
+        module.python = Executable(join_path(spec.prefix.bin, 'python'))
+
+        # Add variables for lib/pythonX.Y and lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages dirs.
+        module.python_lib_dir = os.path.join(ext_spec.prefix, self.python_lib_dir)
+        module.site_packages_dir = os.path.join(ext_spec.prefix, self.site_packages_dir)
+
+        # Add site packages directory to the PYTHONPATH
+        os.environ['PYTHONPATH'] = module.site_packages_dir
+
+        # Make the site packages directory if it does not exist already.
+        mkdirp(module.site_packages_dir)
+
+
+    # ========================================================================
+    # Handle specifics of activating and deactivating python modules.
+    # ========================================================================
+
+    def python_ignore(self, ext_pkg, args):
+        """Add some ignore files to activate/deactivate args."""
+        orig_ignore = args.get('ignore', lambda f: False)
+
+        def ignore(filename):
+            # Always ignore easy-install.pth, as it needs to be merged.
+            patterns = [r'easy-install\.pth$']
+
+            # Ignore pieces of setuptools installed by other packages.
+            if ext_pkg.name != 'py-setuptools':
+                patterns.append(r'/site\.pyc?$')
+                patterns.append(r'setuptools\.pth')
+                patterns.append(r'bin/easy_install[^/]*$')
+                patterns.append(r'setuptools.*egg$')
+
+            return (any(re.search(p, filename) for p in patterns) or
+                    orig_ignore(filename))
+
+        return ignore
+
+
+    def write_easy_install_pth(self, extensions):
+        paths = []
+        for ext in extensions:
+            ext_site_packages = os.path.join(ext.prefix, self.site_packages_dir)
+            easy_pth = "%s/easy-install.pth" % ext_site_packages
+
+            if not os.path.isfile(easy_pth):
+                continue
+
+            with closing(open(easy_pth)) as f:
+                for line in f:
+                    line = line.rstrip()
+
+                    # Skip lines matching these criteria
+                    if not line: continue
+                    if re.search(r'^(import|#)', line): continue
+                    if (ext.name != 'py-setuptools' and
+                        re.search(r'setuptools.*egg$', line)): continue
+
+                    paths.append(line)
+
+        site_packages = os.path.join(self.prefix, self.site_packages_dir)
+        main_pth = "%s/easy-install.pth" % site_packages
+
+        if not paths:
+            if os.path.isfile(main_pth):
+                os.remove(main_pth)
+
+        else:
+            with closing(open(main_pth, 'w')) as f:
+                f.write("import sys; sys.__plen = len(sys.path)\n")
+                for path in paths:
+                    f.write("%s\n" % path)
+                f.write("import sys; new=sys.path[sys.__plen:]; del sys.path[sys.__plen:]; "
+                        "p=getattr(sys,'__egginsert',0); sys.path[p:p]=new; sys.__egginsert = p+len(new)\n")
+
+
+    def activate(self, ext_pkg, **args):
+        args.update(ignore=self.python_ignore(ext_pkg, args))
+        super(Python, self).activate(ext_pkg, **args)
+
+        extensions = set(spack.install_layout.get_extensions(self.spec))
+        extensions.add(ext_pkg.spec)
+        self.write_easy_install_pth(extensions)
+
+
+    def deactivate(self, ext_pkg, **args):
+        args.update(ignore=self.python_ignore(ext_pkg, args))
+        super(Python, self).deactivate(ext_pkg, **args)
+
+        extensions = set(spack.install_layout.get_extensions(self.spec))
+        extensions.remove(ext_pkg.spec)
+        self.write_easy_install_pth(extensions)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/qt/package.py b/var/spack/packages/qt/package.py
index 4f82a9d9d69a1ea623e21c3f4baba1ef01ccb88a..96e484b99597143f244efa2cf87595be6ca52043 100644
--- a/var/spack/packages/qt/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/packages/qt/package.py
@@ -45,46 +45,19 @@ def patch(self):
         filter_file(r'^QMAKE_CXX *=.*$',       'QMAKE_CXX = c++',     qmake_conf)
 
 
-    @property
-    def common_config_args(self):
-        return [
-            '-prefix', self.prefix,
-            '-v',
-            '-opensource',
-            "-release",
-            '-shared',
-            '-confirm-license',
-            '-openssl-linked',
-            '-dbus-linked',
-            '-optimized-qmake',
-            '-no-openvg',
-            '-no-pch',
-            # For now, disable all the database drivers
-            "-no-sql-db2", "-no-sql-ibase", "-no-sql-mysql", "-no-sql-oci", "-no-sql-odbc",
-            "-no-sql-psql", "-no-sql-sqlite", "-no-sql-sqlite2", "-no-sql-tds",
-            # NIS is deprecated in more recent glibc
-            "-no-nis"]
-
-
-    @when('@4')
-    def configure(self):
-        configure('-no-phonon',
-                  '-no-phonon-backend',
-                  '-fast',
-                  *self.common_config_args)
-
-
-    @when('@5')
-    def configure(self):
-        configure('-no-eglfs',
-                  '-no-directfb',
-                  '-qt-xcb',
-                  # If someone wants to get a webkit build working, be my guest!
-                  '-skip', 'qtwebkit',
-                  *self.common_config_args)
-
-
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
-        self.configure()
+        configure('-v',
+                  '-confirm-license',
+                  '-opensource',
+                  '-prefix', prefix,
+                  '-openssl-linked',
+                  '-dbus-linked',
+                  '-fast',
+                  '-optimized-qmake',
+                  '-no-pch',
+# phonon required for py-pyqt4
+#                  '-no-phonon',
+#                  '-no-phonon-backend',
+                  '-no-openvg')
         make()
         make("install")