Index: Misc/NEWS
===================================================================
--- Misc/NEWS	(revision 62554)
+++ Misc/NEWS	(working copy)
@@ -282,6 +282,9 @@
 - Issue #1747858: Fix chown to work with large uid's and gid's on 64-bit
   platforms.
 
+- Issue #1180: Add a --no-user-cfg option to distutils, allowing the
+  user to disable ~/.pydistutils.cfg.
+
 - Issue #1202: zlib.crc32 and zlib.adler32 no longer return different values
   on 32-bit vs. 64-bit python interpreters.  Both were correct, but they now
   both return a signed integer object for consistency.
Index: Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst	(revision 62554)
+++ Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst	(working copy)
@@ -238,7 +238,8 @@
 configuration file, :file:`setup.cfg`\ ---see section :ref:`setup-config`.  If
 you distribute or package many Python module distributions, you might want to
 put options that apply to all of them in your personal Distutils configuration
-file (:file:`~/.pydistutils.cfg`).
+file (:file:`~/.pydistutils.cfg`).  If you want to temporarily disable
+this file, you can pass the --no-user-cfg option to setup.py.
 
 There are three steps to building a binary RPM package, all of which are
 handled automatically by the Distutils:
Index: Doc/ACKS.txt
===================================================================
--- Doc/ACKS.txt	(revision 62554)
+++ Doc/ACKS.txt	(working copy)
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@
    * Mats Wichmann
    * Gerry Wiener
    * Timothy Wild
+   * Paul Winkler
    * Collin Winter
    * Blake Winton
    * Dan Wolfe
Index: Doc/install/index.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/install/index.rst	(revision 62554)
+++ Doc/install/index.rst	(working copy)
@@ -694,6 +694,9 @@
 | local        | :file:`setup.cfg`                               | \(3)  |
 +--------------+-------------------------------------------------+-------+
 
+On all platforms, the "personal" file can be temporarily disabled by
+passing the `--no-user-cfg` option.
+
 Notes:
 
 (1)
Index: Lib/distutils/core.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/core.py	(revision 62554)
+++ Lib/distutils/core.py	(working copy)
@@ -131,8 +131,9 @@
     if _setup_stop_after == "config":
         return dist
 
-    # Parse the command line; any command-line errors are the end user's
-    # fault, so turn them into SystemExit to suppress tracebacks.
+    # Parse the command line and override config files; any
+    # command-line errors are the end user's fault, so turn them into
+    # SystemExit to suppress tracebacks.
     try:
         ok = dist.parse_command_line()
     except DistutilsArgError, msg:
Index: Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py	(revision 62554)
+++ Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py	(working copy)
@@ -21,6 +21,100 @@
         self.sample_option = None
 
 
+class DistributionConfigFileTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    """Tests for the Distribution.find_config_files method."""
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.distutilsdir = os.path.dirname(sys.modules['distutils'].__file__)
+        # Faking out the environment to get control of
+        # the find_config_files behavior.
+        # This is horrible; so much monkeypatching!
+        # Martin Loewis suggested: Leave all these modules alone,
+        # think of ways to hack the Disribution instance instead so it
+        # gets into the states I want. That way, it's totally safe.
+        # But that would require more changes to dist.py to allow
+        # some dependency injection, which is arguably out of scope for #1180.
+        # Another possibility: Don't test this function at all :(
+        self.old_osname = os.name
+        self.old_environ = os.environ
+        os.environ = {}
+
+        self.old_isfile = os.path.isfile
+        os.path.isfile = lambda name: True
+
+        # check_environ adds HOME if it's not there, which would
+        # prevent us from testing some cases.
+        self.old_check_environ = distutils.dist.check_environ
+        distutils.dist.check_environ = lambda: None
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        os.name = self.old_osname
+        os.path.isfile = self.old_isfile
+        os.environ = self.old_environ
+        distutils.dist.check_environ = self.old_check_environ
+
+    def test_find_config_nofiles(self):
+        # No files will be used if they don't actually exist.
+        os.path.isfile = lambda name: False
+        d = distutils.dist.Distribution()
+        files = d.find_config_files()
+        self.assertEqual(files, [])
+
+    def test_find_config_files_posix_no_home(self):
+        d = distutils.dist.Distribution()
+        os.name = 'posix'
+        files = d.find_config_files()
+        self.assertEqual(len(files), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(files[0],
+                         os.path.join(self.distutilsdir, 'distutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[1], 'setup.cfg')
+
+    def test_find_config_files_posix_home(self):
+        d = distutils.dist.Distribution()
+        os.name = 'posix'
+        os.environ['HOME'] = '/home/gilliam'
+        files = d.find_config_files()
+        self.assertEqual(len(files), 3)
+        self.assertEqual(files[0],
+                         os.path.join(self.distutilsdir, 'distutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[1],
+                         os.path.join('/home', 'gilliam', '.pydistutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[2], 'setup.cfg')
+
+    def test_find_config_files_win_no_home(self):
+        d = distutils.dist.Distribution()
+        os.name = 'nt'
+        files = d.find_config_files()
+        self.assertEqual(len(files), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(files[0],
+                         os.path.join(self.distutilsdir, 'distutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[1], 'setup.cfg')
+
+    def test_find_config_files_win_home(self):
+        d = distutils.dist.Distribution()
+        os.name = 'nt'
+        os.environ['HOME'] = 'gilliam'
+        files = d.find_config_files()
+        self.assertEqual(len(files), 3)
+        self.assertEqual(files[0],
+                         os.path.join(self.distutilsdir, 'distutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[1], os.path.join('gilliam', 'pydistutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[2], 'setup.cfg')
+
+    def test_find_config_files_disable(self):
+        # Ticket #1180: Allow user to disable their home config file.
+        d = distutils.dist.Distribution(attrs={'script_args':
+                                               ['--no-user-cfg']})
+        os.name = 'posix'
+        os.environ['HOME'] = '/home/gilliam'
+        files = d.find_config_files()
+        self.assertEqual(len(files), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(files[0],
+                         os.path.join(self.distutilsdir, 'distutils.cfg'))
+        self.assertEqual(files[1], 'setup.cfg')
+
+
 class TestDistribution(distutils.dist.Distribution):
     """Distribution subclasses that avoids the default search for
     configuration files.
@@ -184,4 +278,5 @@
     suite = unittest.TestSuite()
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(DistributionTestCase))
     suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(MetadataTestCase))
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(DistributionConfigFileTestCase))
     return suite
Index: Lib/distutils/dist.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/dist.py	(revision 62554)
+++ Lib/distutils/dist.py	(working copy)
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@
                       ('quiet', 'q', "run quietly (turns verbosity off)"),
                       ('dry-run', 'n', "don't actually do anything"),
                       ('help', 'h', "show detailed help message"),
-                     ]
+                      ('no-user-cfg', None,
+                       'ignore pydistutils.cfg in your home directory'),
+    ]
 
     # 'common_usage' is a short (2-3 line) string describing the common
     # usage of the setup script.
@@ -264,6 +266,12 @@
                     else:
                         sys.stderr.write(msg + "\n")
 
+        # no-user-cfg is handled before other command line args
+        # because other args override the config files, and this
+        # one is needed before we can load the config files.
+        # If attrs['script_args'] wasn't passed, assume false.
+        self.want_user_cfg = '--no-user-cfg' not in (self.script_args or [])
+
         self.finalize_options()
 
     # __init__ ()
@@ -321,9 +329,12 @@
 
         There are three possible config files: distutils.cfg in the
         Distutils installation directory (ie. where the top-level
-        Distutils __inst__.py file lives), a file in the user's home
+        Distutils __inst__.py file lives); a file in the user's home
         directory named .pydistutils.cfg on Unix and pydistutils.cfg
-        on Windows/Mac, and setup.cfg in the current directory.
+        on Windows/Mac; and setup.cfg in the current directory.
+
+        The file in the user's home directory can be disabled with the
+        --no-user-cfg option.
         """
         files = []
         check_environ()
@@ -343,7 +354,7 @@
             user_filename = "pydistutils.cfg"
 
         # And look for the user config file
-        if 'HOME' in os.environ:
+        if self.want_user_cfg and 'HOME' in os.environ:
             user_file = os.path.join(os.environ.get('HOME'), user_filename)
             if os.path.isfile(user_file):
                 files.append(user_file)
@@ -353,6 +364,8 @@
         if os.path.isfile(local_file):
             files.append(local_file)
 
+        if DEBUG:
+            print "using config files: %s" % ', '.join(files)
         return files
 
     # find_config_files ()
@@ -447,6 +460,7 @@
         parser = FancyGetopt(toplevel_options + self.display_options)
         parser.set_negative_aliases(self.negative_opt)
         parser.set_aliases({'licence': 'license'})
+        # Parse each option and store as name-mangled attributes of self.
         args = parser.getopt(args=self.script_args, object=self)
         option_order = parser.get_option_order()
         log.set_verbosity(self.verbose)