How to package a command line Python script
Question:
I’ve created a python script that’s intended to be used from the command line. How do I go about packaging it? This is my first python package and I’ve read a bit about setuptools, but I’m still not sure the best way to do this.
Solution
I ended up using setup.py with the key configurations noted below:
setup(
....
entry_points="""
[console_scripts]
mycommand = mypackage.mymodule:main
""",
....
)
Here’s a good example in context.
Answers:
What do you mean by packaging? If it is a single script to be run on a box that already has python installed, you just need to put a shebang into the first line of the file and that’s it.
If you want it to be executed under Windows or on a box without python, though, you will need something external, like pyinstaller.
If your question is about where to put configuration/data files, you’ll need to work platform-dependently (like writing into the registry or the home folder), as far as I know.
@Zach, given your clarification in your comment to @soulmerge’s answer, it looks like what you need is to write a setup.py as per the instructions regarding the distutils — here in particular is how you register on pypi, and here on how to upload to pypi once you are registrered — and possibly (if you need some extra functionality wrt what the distutils supply on their own) add setuptools, of which easy_install is part, via the instructions here.
Rather than using setuptools non standard way of proceeding, it is possible to directly rely on distutils setup’s function, using the scripts argument, as stated here: http://docs.python.org/distutils/setupscript.html#installing-scripts
from distutils import setup
setup(
...,
scripts=['path/to/your/script',],
...
)
It allows you to stay compatible a) with all python versions and b) not having to rely on a setuptools as an external dependency.
Last month, I have written an article answering exactly your question. You can find it here: http://gehrcke.de/2014/02/distributing-a-python-command-line-application/
There, I am using only currently recommended methods (twine, pure setuptools instead of distutils, the console_scripts key in the entry_points dictionary, …), which work for Python 2 and 3.
For those who are beginners in Python Packaging, I suggest going through this Python Packaging Tutorial.
Note about the tutorial:
At this time, this documentation focuses on Python 2.x only, and may not be as applicable to packages targeted to Python 3.x
I’ve created a python script that’s intended to be used from the command line. How do I go about packaging it? This is my first python package and I’ve read a bit about setuptools, but I’m still not sure the best way to do this.
Solution
I ended up using setup.py with the key configurations noted below:
setup(
....
entry_points="""
[console_scripts]
mycommand = mypackage.mymodule:main
""",
....
)
Here’s a good example in context.
What do you mean by packaging? If it is a single script to be run on a box that already has python installed, you just need to put a shebang into the first line of the file and that’s it.
If you want it to be executed under Windows or on a box without python, though, you will need something external, like pyinstaller.
If your question is about where to put configuration/data files, you’ll need to work platform-dependently (like writing into the registry or the home folder), as far as I know.
@Zach, given your clarification in your comment to @soulmerge’s answer, it looks like what you need is to write a setup.py as per the instructions regarding the distutils — here in particular is how you register on pypi, and here on how to upload to pypi once you are registrered — and possibly (if you need some extra functionality wrt what the distutils supply on their own) add setuptools, of which easy_install is part, via the instructions here.
Rather than using setuptools non standard way of proceeding, it is possible to directly rely on distutils setup’s function, using the scripts argument, as stated here: http://docs.python.org/distutils/setupscript.html#installing-scripts
from distutils import setup
setup(
...,
scripts=['path/to/your/script',],
...
)
It allows you to stay compatible a) with all python versions and b) not having to rely on a setuptools as an external dependency.
Last month, I have written an article answering exactly your question. You can find it here: http://gehrcke.de/2014/02/distributing-a-python-command-line-application/
There, I am using only currently recommended methods (twine, pure setuptools instead of distutils, the console_scripts key in the entry_points dictionary, …), which work for Python 2 and 3.
For those who are beginners in Python Packaging, I suggest going through this Python Packaging Tutorial.
Note about the tutorial:
At this time, this documentation focuses on Python 2.x only, and may not be as applicable to packages targeted to Python 3.x