Simple documentation for setup.cfg

[layday]

But they don’t. Anything from MANIFEST.in that’s not inside a package gets pulled into the sdist irrespective of the value of include_package_data.

[layday]

Correction: include_package_data=True has no effect on MANIFEST.in for sdists, it simply just makes setuptools ignore package_data. I’m sure I used to know this…

The way it works is:

• If you’re building an sdist:
  • setuptools includes everything from MANIFEST.in
  • If include_package_data=True it ignores package_data
  • If include_package_data=False (the default), it also includes files from package_data
• If you’re building a wheel:
  • setuptools includes package data entries from MANIFEST.in IFF include_package_data=True
  • If include_package_data=True it ignores package_data
  • If include_package_data=False (the default), it includes files from package_data

[ChrisOfBristol]

@abravalheri

between all the options

@FFY00

Please use the new API

I’ve gone with the one which works on this computer (Python 3.10.0) - which only seems to like deprecated forms:

from importlib import resources # for filepaths

namehelp = 'qucs_netlist.hlp'
filehelp_contents = resources.read_text(__package__, namehelp)
with resources.path(__package__, namehelp) as filehelp:
	print(filehelp)

[ChrisOfBristol]

@layday

package and package data handling in setuptools is totally non-obvious

So perhaps I am non-stupid after all. I’ll tidy it up and have a go at uploading it tomorrow.

Thanks for the machete guys! …to hack through the jungle that is Python packaging. Or more seriously, your patient reading of my posts and helpful answers.

[abravalheri (Anderson Bravalheri)]

Thanks for the comprehensive summary @layday!

According the docs in Data Files Support - setuptools 69.0.3.post20231223 documentation

If datafiles are contained in a subdirectory of a package that isn’t a package itself (no __init__.py ), then the subdirectory names (or * ) are required in the package_data argument (as shown above with "data/*.dat" ).

In your experience, is this paragraph valid for wheels? Or as you say everything in MANIFEST.in gets included?

---

If that is the case, maybe the best “rule of thumb” is to always have include_package_data=True and rely on tools like setuptools_scm to automatically populate the manifest…

(I am considering here that files outside of the package directory are no longer recommended/supported)

[FFY00 (Filipe Laíns)]

Oops, sorry! The context manager is called as_file, not as_path. It is available on Python 3.10.

[layday]

@abravalheri

In your experience, is this paragraph valid for wheels?

That paragraph talks about the package_data field, which behaves identically between sdists and wheels.

@abravalheri

Or as you say everything in MANIFEST.in gets included?

Included where and when building what kind of distribution using which options?

[layday]

Opened docs: clarify option usage by layday · Pull Request #2835 · pypa/setuptools · GitHub.

[abravalheri (Anderson Bravalheri)]

Hi @layday, sorry if I was not clear.

The question here is specifically targetting wheels, and “included” is used in the same context of your original post:

@layday

The way it works is:

• If you’re building an sdist:
  • setuptools includes everything from MANIFEST.in
  • If include_package_data=True it ignores package_data
  • If include_package_data=False (the default), it also includes files from package_data
• If you’re building a wheel:
  • setuptools includes package data entries from MANIFEST.in IFF include_package_data=True
  • If include_package_data=True it ignores package_data
  • If include_package_data=False (the default), it includes files from package_data

Which seems to mean “included in the distribution”.

[abravalheri (Anderson Bravalheri)]

@layday

That paragraph talks about the package_data field, which behaves identically between sdists and wheels.

If the paragraph is accurate and works identically between sdists and wheels, then it seems that setuptools would still need to have package_data set even If include_package_data=True, for the case the subdirectories where you are storing data files are not valid Python packages (e.g. missing __init__.py or with a name that is an invalid Python identifier, e.g. sub-folder).

[layday]

@abravalheri

If the paragraph is accurate and works identically between sdists and wheels, then it seems that setuptools would still need to have package_data set even If include_package_data=True , for the case the subdirectories where you are storing data files are not valid Python packages (e.g. missing __init__.py or with a name that is an invalid Python identifier, e.g. sub-folder ).

No, the value of package_data is ignored completely when include_package_data=True, both for sdists and wheels.

@abravalheri

Which seems to mean “included in the distribution”.

• Everything from MANIFEST.in gets pulled into the sdist regardless of the value of include_package_data.
• Nothing from MANIFEST.in is included in the wheel, unless include_package_data=True, then package data (i.e. files inside packages) specified in MANIFEST.in are included in the wheel.

I could try putting it all in a table…

[layday]

distribution  `include_package_data`  `package_data`  package data from `MANIFEST.in`
------------  ---------------------   -------------   -------------------------------
sdist         True                    ignored         included
sdist         False                   included        included
wheel         True                    included        included
wheel         False                   included        ignored

(Corrected for wheel package_data on 29/10.)

[abravalheri (Anderson Bravalheri)]

Thank you for the explanation @layday.

[ChrisOfBristol]

@FFY00

context manager is called as_file

Thanks for that, it works so I am using it now.