# Which fields are required for a setup.py? Especially, is author required? **URL:** \ **Category:** Packaging\ **Created:** [November 23, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705 "2019-11-23T12:23:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jugmac00](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/jugmac00/32/1581_2.png) [@jugmac00](https://discuss.python.org/u/jugmac00)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705/1 "2019-11-23T12:23:44Z")
Hi, what is the absolute minimum of a setup.py for a package to upload to PyPi? I could not find a dedicated list. Background: I ported a very old Python package back from 2003 to Python 3 and I’d like to release it on PyPi. Obviously, now I am the maintainer, but not the author. I tried to add `author` to setup.py, but then both `python setup.py check` and `pep517` warn me about the missing `author_email` field which I do not know - and most probably the author does not want to get involved in this very old package any more. ```auto ❯ python setup.py check running check warning: Check: missing meta-data: if 'author' supplied, 'author_email' must be supplied too ``` All “minimal” setup.py guides on the net list `author` and `author_email` as required. Is it viable to leave out both author fields? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![uranusjr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/uranusjr/32/103_2.png) [@uranusjr](https://discuss.python.org/u/uranusjr)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705/2 "2019-11-23T13:16:07Z")
From what I understand, both author and author\_email fields are optional. It’s just Setuptools really wants you to supply one 😛 I believe all fields in setup.py are actually “optional” in the sense that a package can be built successfully without any of them. You at least need a name to upload to PyPI (unless your package is named UNKNOWN which is the default). ---
**Author:** ![pf\_moore](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/pf_moore/32/35_2.png) [@pf\_moore](https://discuss.python.org/u/pf_moore)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705/3 "2019-11-23T18:21:04Z")
Technically, the required fields are defined in [the metadata spec](https://packaging.python.org/specifications/core-metadata/) (`Metadata-Version`, `Name` and `Version`). Setuptools may have its own rules beyond that, but if so, I don’t know where they are documented. ---
**Author:** ![zwol](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/zwol/32/1071_2.png) [@zwol](https://discuss.python.org/u/zwol)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705/4 "2019-11-25T14:14:15Z")
To preserve the original author credit and still keep all the tooling happy, you could set `author_email` to a fake address under the [`.invalid` TLD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.invalid), like this maybe: ``` setup( # Original author is no longer involved in development. # Their current contact information is unknown. author = 'John Dough', author_email = 'current.address@unknown.invalid', maintainer = 'Jürgen Gmach', maintainer_email = 'jugmac00@your.real.email.example', # ... ) ``` ---
**Author:** ![jugmac00](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/jugmac00/32/1581_2.png) [@jugmac00](https://discuss.python.org/u/jugmac00)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705/5 "2019-11-25T16:07:09Z")
Thank you very much for your answers! Providing an invalid email address just to please the tooling feels a bit weird, though. I just created a test package and uploaded it to the test instance of PyPi and it seems `author_email` is not really required - PyPi renders the name of the author nicely. > **[Products.ZopeTree](https://test.pypi.org/project/Products.ZopeTree/2.0.2.dev0/)** > > ZopeTree is a light-weight tree implementation. I created an issue at pep517’s issue tracker, as in regard to the warning text - if it was a `must` requirement, the build should fail. > > > I ported a very old package to Python 3, of which I know the author, but not his email address. Also,... ---
**Author:** ![jugmac00](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/jugmac00/32/1581_2.png) [@jugmac00](https://discuss.python.org/u/jugmac00)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 10:30am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/which-fields-are-required-for-a-setup-py-especially-is-author-required/2705/6 "2019-11-26T10:30:20Z")
The misleading warning comes form distutils within cpython. I created an issue at their bug tracker and a pr: > Cross your fingers! 🙂