SetEnv PYTHON_EGG_CACHE /tmp Luckily, a lot of other people have seen this problem, and some of them even know a bit about mod_python A helpful google search turned up a trac mailing list post gave me the hint I needed. Thanks to Django’s funky setup, a lot of people have discovered that mod_python doesn’t take SetEnv. I don’t know if this is a bug or a design flaw (perhaps with some justification). Anyway here’s the hack for mod_python users, instead of SetEnv, use PythonOption: PythonOption PYTHON_EGG_CACHE /tmp - Detlev Lengsfeld