[metamemetics]

http://jacobian.org/writing/django-apps-with-buildout/

Buildout. Like virtualenv but handles downloading correct required package versions too. gives you an isolated shell and django manager in your project directory. You can then distribute your project to different people and servers and ensure the correct version of python, django, etc. is used.

[tswicegood]

FWIW, I don't believe Jacob recommends zc.buildout any longer. virtualenv + pip is easier and more Pythonic instead of Zope-like.

[metamemetics]

He uses Buildout in conjunction with Fabric as recently as http://github.com/jacobian/django-deployment-workshop also linked on this page. I think a fair assessment is that buildout is much more powerful but also more complicated than using pip alone. It greatly reduces boilerplate for spinning up new sites for me now, but I could also see myself switching to creating some snapshots of pip only skeleton projects in the future.