10.1 distutils.core -- Core Distutils functionality
The distutils.core module is the only module that needs to be installed to use the Distutils. It provides the setup() (which is called from the setup script). Indirectly provides the distutils.dist.Distribution and distutils.cmd.Command class.
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The basic do-everything function that does most everything you could ever
ask for from a Distutils method. See XXXXX
The setup function takes a large number of arguments. These are laid out in the following table.
argument name value type name The name of the package a string version The version number of the package See distutils.version description A single line describing the package a string long_description Longer description of the package a string author The name of the package author a string author_email The email address of the package author a string maintainer The name of the current maintainer, if different from the author a string maintainer_email The email address of the current maintainer, if different from the author url A URL for the package (homepage) a URL download_url A URL to download the package a URL packages A list of Python packages that distutils will manipulate a list of strings py_modules A list of Python modules that distutils will manipulate a list of strings scripts A list of standalone script files to be built and installed a list of strings ext_modules A list of Python extensions to be built A list of instances of distutils.core.Extension classifiers A list of Trove categories for the package XXX link to better definition distclass the Distribution class to use A subclass of distutils.core.Distribution script_name The name of the setup.py script - defaults to sys.argv[0]a string script_args Arguments to supply to the setup script a list of strings options default options for the setup script a string license The license for the package keywords Descriptive meta-data. See PEP 314 platforms cmdclass A mapping of command names to Command subclasses a dictionary
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Run a setup script in a somewhat controlled environment, and return
the distutils.dist.Distribution instance that drives things.
This is useful if you need to find out the distribution meta-data
(passed as keyword args from script to setup()), or
the contents of the config files or command-line.
script_name is a file that will be run with execfile() sys.argv[0] will be replaced with script for the duration of the call. script_args is a list of strings; if supplied, sys.argv[1:] will be replaced by script_args for the duration of the call.
stop_after tells setup() when to stop processing; possible values:
value description init Stop after the Distribution instance has been created and populated with the keyword arguments to setup() config Stop after config files have been parsed (and their data stored in the Distribution instance) commandline Stop after the command-line ( sys.argv[1:]or script_args) have been parsed (and the data stored in the Distribution instance.)run Stop after all commands have been run (the same as if setup() had been called in the usual way). This is the default value.
In addition, the distutils.core module exposed a number of classes that live elsewhere.
- Extension from distutils.extension
- Command from distutils.cmd
- Distribution from distutils.dist
A short description of each of these follows, but see the relevant module for the full reference.
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The Extension class describes a single C or C++extension module in a setup script. It accepts the following keyword arguments in it's constructor
argument name value type name the full name of the extension, including any packages -- ie. not a filename or pathname, but Python dotted name string sources list of source filenames, relative to the distribution root (where the setup script lives), in Unix form (slash-separated) for portability. Source files may be C, C++, SWIG (.i), platform-specific resource files, or whatever else is recognized by the build_extcommand as source for a Python extension.string include_dirs list of directories to search for C/C++ header files (in Unix form for portability) string define_macros list of macros to define; each macro is defined using a 2-tuple, where 'value' is either the string to define it to or Noneto define it without a particular value (equivalent of#define FOOin source or -DFOO on Unix C compiler command line)(string,string) tuple or (name, None)undef_macros list of macros to undefine explicitly string library_dirs list of directories to search for C/C++ libraries at link time string libraries list of library names (not filenames or paths) to link against string runtime_library_dirs list of directories to search for C/C++ libraries at run time (for shared extensions, this is when the extension is loaded) string extra_objects list of extra files to link with (eg. object files not implied by 'sources', static library that must be explicitly specified, binary resource files, etc.) string extra_compile_args any extra platform- and compiler-specific information to use when compiling the source files in 'sources'. For platforms and compilers where a command line makes sense, this is typically a list of command-line arguments, but for other platforms it could be anything. string extra_link_args any extra platform- and compiler-specific information to use when linking object files together to create the extension (or to create a new static Python interpreter). Similar interpretation as for 'extra_compile_args'. string export_symbols list of symbols to be exported from a shared extension. Not used on all platforms, and not generally necessary for Python extensions, which typically export exactly one symbol: init+ extension_name.string depends list of files that the extension depends on string language extension language (i.e. 'c','c++','objc'). Will be detected from the source extensions if not provided.string
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A Distribution describes how to build, install and package up a
Python software package.
See the setup() function for a list of keyword arguments accepted by the Distribution constructor. setup() creates a Distribution instance.
- A Command class (or rather, an instance of one of it's subclasses) implement a single distutils command.
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Distributing Python Modules |  |
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Release 2.4b2, documentation updated on 13 November 2004.