Develop Reference

ModuleNotFoundError When running own Project installed from PyPi using Setuptools and Wheels

When I install one of my own Python applications from PyPi, it fails to run citing
File "/home/me/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/refrapt/refrapy.py", line 20, in
from classes import (
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'classes'.
I have the following directory layout in my local area:
/refrapt
setup.py
/refrapt
classes.py
helpers.py
refrapt.conf
refrapt.py
settings.py
__init__.py
To build the project, I'm using setuptools, running the following command:
python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
This builds and works happily enough, and I'm able to upload the resulting /dist.
I then install the project using pip3 install refrapt. When I run it using refrapt, I get the error ModuleNotFoundError above.
When I run the development code locally, it runs fine, but installed via pip, it is failing. I assume it's a problem with my setup.py, but this is my first time and I haven't really a clue what is correct. I tried adding the init.py (which is empty) as suggested by some python docs, but to no avail. The contents of setup.py are as follows:
import pathlib
from setuptools import setup, find_packages
HERE = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent
README = (HERE / "README.md").read_text()
setup(
name='Refrapt',
version='0.1.5',
description='A tool to mirror Debian repositories for use as a local mirror.',
python_requires='>=3.9',
long_description=README,
long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
packages=find_packages(),
install_requires=[
'Click >= 7.1.2',
'Colorama >= 0.4.4',
'tqdm >= 4.60.0',
'wget >= 3.2',
'filelock >= 3.0.12'
],
classifiers=[
"Development Status :: 4 - Beta",
"Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows 10",
"Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux",
"Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation",
"Topic :: System :: Archiving :: Mirroring"
],
keywords=['Mirror', 'Debian', 'Repository'],
entry_points='''
[console_scripts]
refrapt=refrapt:refrapt
''',
)
If anyone could help, I'd greatly appreciate. I'm out of my depth on this one, and haven't been able to find an answer so far.

from classes import …
In Python 2 this was relative import — the statements imports classes from the current directory of the importing module.
But in Python 3 it was changed to absolute import. The import fails because there is no a global module or a package named classes. You need to convert the import to absolute or relative. Either
from refrapt.classes import …
or
from .classes import …

Potentially I've found out the answer to my question, but it's not the answer I wanted.
I spun up a virtual environment, and installed an application that I've used before via pip. When I went to run the app, I got the ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'app'.
I tried to run it manually via the .py file by using python .\.venv\Lib\site-packages\app\cli.py, which resulting in the same error.
Seems to be something about the environment setup in Windows VS Code that just doesn't operate the same as on a Linux machine.
I guess I'll just have to remove the "refrapt." prefix from import statements when developing locally, and then add it back when pushing to GitHub.

Python module not found after build/install

I have an internal tool that we are using at work to pull some data and generate a report. The tool was written in python. I made some changes to the tool, and decided to tidy up the folder structure which seemed a bit messy to me. I probably broke something, but I'm determined to fix it and figure out what the issue is.
The project is named ReportCardLite, and my folder structure is like this:
ReportCardLite root folder
-Folder 1
-Folder 2
-rclite
-----__init.py__
-----A.py
-----B.py
-----C.py
-setup.py
-setup.cfg
-__init__.py
Originally, the author was importing by using the package name, which was odd to me since all the script files were in the same directory. So, in A.py for example, he would say something like "from rclite.B import fun".
I decided to remove the "unnecessary" module name from before all the import statements. Of course, that broke it, but I quickly figured out that I could add a line in my settings.json file to look within the rclite folder for all modules. Now my scripts were importing from one another without the module name, and running fine from within the IDE terminal window.
I next needed to build an executable from this module. The original author had included a setup.py and a setup.cfg file, so I used that to build and install this. But when I run this new executable, I receive errors that modules cannot be found. If I change it back to how it originally was, namely the "rclite.A" qualifier, it runs fine. I've spent hours trying to understand what is going on here, and I'm just out of ideas and cannot find any relevant questions using Google.
Can someone kindly point out which configuration I need to change in order to not have to put "rclite" in front of the import statements? Thanks!
Here is the setup.py script.. didn't see anything that looked promising.
"""ReportCardLite Packaging
See:
https://code.amazon.com/packages/ReportCardLite/trees/mainline
"""
# Always prefer setuptools over distutils
from codecs import open
from os import path
from setuptools import setup, find_packages
from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable
here = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))
import sys
# Get the long description from the README file
with open(path.join(here, 'README.md'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
long_description = f.read()
setup(name='ReportCardLite',
# Versions should comply with PEP440. For a discussion on single-sourcing
# the version across setup.py and the project code, see
# https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/single_source_version.html
version='0.9.0',
description='RC.Lite for SIM',
long_description=long_description,
# See https://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=list_classifiers
classifiers=[
# How mature is this project? Common values are
# 3 - Alpha
# 4 - Beta
# 5 - Production/Stable
'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha',
# Indicate who your project is intended for
# 'Intended Audience :: Developers',
# 'Topic :: Software Development :: Build Tools',
# Pick your license as you wish (should match "license" above)
# 'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
# Specify the Python versions you support here. In particular, ensure
# that you indicate whether you support Python 2, Python 3 or both.
'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.3',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.5',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6'
],
# You can just specify the packages manually here if your project is
# simple. Or you can use find_packages().
packages=find_packages(exclude=['test']),
#packages = ['rclite'],
# Alternatively, if you want to distribute just a my_module.py, uncomment
# this:
# py_modules=["my_module"],
# List run-time dependencies here. These will be installed by pip when
# your project is installed. For an analysis of "install_requires" vs pip's
# requirements files see:
# https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/requirements.html
install_requires=[
'isoweek',
'jinja2',
'jsonpickle',
'jsonplus',
'markdown',
'pkg-resources',
'premailer',
'python-dateutil',
'pyxdg',
'six'
],
options={
'build_exe': {
'packages': ['lxml', 'asyncio', 'markdown.extensions'],
'include_files': ['templates/', 'webapp/']
},
},
# executables = [Executable("rclite/aiohttp_app.py", base="Win32GUI")],
executables=[Executable(script="rclite/aiohttp_app.py", targetName="run_rclite.exe")],
# List additional groups of dependencies here (e.g. development
# dependencies). You can install these using the following syntax,
# for example:
# $ pip install -e .[dev,test]
extras_require={
'dev': ['wheel'],
'test': ['mock'],
},
# If there are data files included in your packages that need to be
# installed, specify them here. If using Python 2.6 or less, then these
# have to be included in MANIFEST.in as well.
package_data={
# 'sample': ['package_data.dat'],
},
# Although 'package_data' is the preferred approach, in some case you may
# need to place data files outside of your packages. See:
# http://docs.python.org/3.4/distutils/setupscript.html#installing-additional-files # noqa
# In this case, 'data_file' will be installed into '<sys.prefix>/my_data'
# data_files=[('my_data', ['data/data_file'])],
# To provide executable scripts, use entry points in preference to the
# "scripts" keyword. Entry points provide cross-platform support and allow
# pip to create the appropriate form of executable for the target platform.
entry_points={
'console_scripts': [
'rclite = rclite.__main__:main',
'rclite-gui = rclite.aiohttp_app.__main__'
],
},
)

pip package with OS specififc dependency

I want to create a pip package which dependent on some OS specific files:
Let's say there are:
dependency_Windows_x86_64.zip
dependency_Linux_x86_64.zip
dependency_MAC_OS_X.zip
I do not want to include all three archives in a package project, but download them dynamically during the pip install my-package based on user's OS. How can I do that ? Where should I put the code responsible for downloading/unzipping those files ?
My setup.py looks like this:
from setuptools import setup
setup(
name='my-package',
version='0.0.1',
description='Package description',
py_modules=['my_package'],
package_dir={'': 'src'},
classifiers=[
'Intended Audience :: Developers',
'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
'Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux',
'Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows',
'Operating System :: MacOS',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7'
],
python_requires='>=3.7'
)

The platform specific dependencies could be kept in separate Python projects (wrappers around data only packages) and then required from the main project like the following:
# setup.cfg
# ...
[options]
install_requires =
my_package_win_amd64 ; platform_system=="Windows" and platform_machine=="x86_64"
my_package_linux-x86_64 ; platform_system=="Linux" and platform_machine=="x86_64"
This approach doesn't depend on setuptools and could be used with other build systems.

First answer is give up and use setuptools. Look at Platform specific dependencies for a good write up of what to do.
Second answer is to make separate packages such as 'mylib-mac', 'mylib-win', 'mylib-linux'.
Third answer is to use the "console_script" approach. This will break. While it generates .exe files on Windows, it has odd failure modes. Also, some users will not be able to dynamically download files because they work from an internal clone of a repository. Randomly running code from the Internet on production can scare people.
Hope this helps!

A solution could be to publish platform specific Python wheels of your project. The platform specific files could be added to the pre-built distributions via a custom setuptools command (probably a sub-command of build, or maybe install).
This is not a full solution, but something like this might be a good start:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import distutils.command.build
import setuptools
class build_something(setuptools.Command):
user_options = [
('plat-name=', 'p', "platform name to build for"),
]
def initialize_options(self):
self.plat_name = None
def finalize_options(self):
self.set_undefined_options('bdist_wheel', ('plat_name', 'plat_name'))
def run(self):
print(" *** plat_name: {} ***".format(self.plat_name))
print(" *** download the platform specific bits to 'build' ***")
class build(distutils.command.build.build):
sub_commands = [(
'build_something',
None,
)] + distutils.command.build.build.sub_commands
setuptools.setup(
cmdclass={
'build_something': build_something,
'build': build,
},
# ...
)
And then the Python wheels could be built like this:
$ ./setup.py bdist_wheel -p win_amd64

Why does PIP convert underscores to dashes

I am trying to install a Pyramid app -- let's say test_app. inside a virtual environment and it is getting installed as test-app (pip freeze output shows it test-app==0.0).
Because of this, I can not import the package.
How should I fix this problem?
More info:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/distutils-sig/2011-August/017935.html
I am using pip version 1.3.1
setup.py:
import os
from setuptools import setup, find_packages
here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
README = open(os.path.join(here, 'README.txt')).read()
CHANGES = open(os.path.join(here, 'CHANGES.txt')).read()
requires = [
'pyramid',
'pyramid_debugtoolbar',
'waitress',
]
setup(name='test_app',
version='0.0',
description='test_app',
long_description=README + '\n\n' + CHANGES,
classifiers=[
"Programming Language :: Python",
"Framework :: Pyramid",
"Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP",
"Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGI :: Application",
],
author='',
author_email='',
url='',
keywords='web pyramid pylons',
packages=find_packages(),
include_package_data=True,
zip_safe=False,
install_requires=requires,
tests_require=requires,
test_suite="test_app",
entry_points="""\
[paste.app_factory]
main = test_app:main
""",
)
UPDATE:
to summarize the findings so far:
It is normal that pip reports the package name as test-app.
It is not normal that the egg link is pointing to your virtual env root.
But the fact that the .egg-info file is created inside your virtual env root as well points to develop using that directory as the egg root.
Update 2021
I have now started using Poetry instead of pip for all my new Python projects. It works well for both normal projects and Jupyter notebooks. With its better developer experience for package management all I'd have to do for the above example would be
poetry run xyz
where xyz is a script that I define within the spec file (akin to package.json for npm). I would be able to import my own package as all other packages.

Update 2021
Use Poetry instead of pip.
Original answer:
So, finally after a lot of fiddling around, I've found the solution -- which is annoyingly simple.
I am using virtualenv and am installing the package in the development mode.
I was installing the package from the wrong location. Turns out that the location (directory) from which you run python setup.py develop is indeed the one that goes into the .egg-link file.
You should install the package into the virtual environment FROM the location where your code is.
So, for example, let's say your code resides in '/a/b' and your virtualenv env is in '/x/y/env', then you should install the package like this:
$ cd /a/b
$ /x/y/env/bin/python setup.py develop
This will install the package properly.
Hence, the '-' and '_' issue is not a problem and you should be careful about the location from where you are installing the package in the develop mode.

setup.py examples? [closed]

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After studying this page:
http://docs.python.org/distutils/builtdist.html
I am hoping to find some setup.py files to study so as to make my own (with the goal of making a fedora rpm file).
Could the s.o. community point me towards some good examples?

Complete walkthrough of writing setup.py scripts here. (with some examples)
If you'd like a real-world example, I could point you towards the setup.py scripts of a couple major projects. Django's is here, pyglet's is here. You can just browse the source of other projects for a file named setup.py for more examples.
These aren't simple examples; the tutorial link I gave has those. These are more complex, but also more practical.

You may find the HitchHiker's Guide to Packaging helpful, even though it is incomplete. I'd start with the Quick Start tutorial. Try also just browsing through Python packages on the Python Package Index. Just download the tarball, unpack it, and have a look at the setup.py file. Or even better, only bother looking through packages that list a public source code repository such as one hosted on GitHub or BitBucket. You're bound to run into one on the front page.
My final suggestion is to just go for it and try making one; don't be afraid to fail. I really didn't understand it until I started making them myself. It's trivial to create a new package on PyPI and just as easy to remove it. So, create a dummy package and play around.

Minimal example
from setuptools import setup, find_packages
setup(
name="foo",
version="1.0",
packages=find_packages(),
)
More info in docs

READ THIS FIRST https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/current.html
Installation Tool Recommendations
Use pip to install Python packages
from PyPI.
Use virtualenv, or pyvenv to isolate application specific dependencies from a shared Python installation.
Use pip wheel to create a cache of wheel distributions, for the purpose of > speeding up subsequent installations.
If you’re looking for management of fully integrated cross-platform software stacks, consider buildout (primarily focused on the web development community) or Hashdist, or conda (both primarily focused on the scientific community).
Packaging Tool Recommendations
Use setuptools to define projects and create Source Distributions.
Use the bdist_wheel setuptools extension available from the wheel project to create wheels. This is especially beneficial, if your project contains binary extensions.
Use twine for uploading distributions to PyPI.
This anwser has aged, and indeed there is a rescue plan for python packaging world called
wheels way
I qoute pythonwheels.com here:
What are wheels?
Wheels are the new standard of python distribution
and are intended to replace eggs. Support is offered in pip >= 1.4 and
setuptools >= 0.8.
Advantages of wheels
Faster installation for pure python and native C extension packages.
Avoids arbitrary code execution for installation. (Avoids setup.py)
Installation of a C extension does not require a compiler on Windows
or OS X.
Allows better caching for testing and continuous
integration.
Creates .pyc files as part of installation to ensure
they match the python interpreter used.
More consistent installs across platforms and machines.
The full story of correct python packaging (and about wheels) is covered at packaging.python.org
conda way
For scientific computing (this is also recommended on packaging.python.org, see above) I would consider using CONDA packaging which can be seen as a 3rd party service build on top of PyPI and pip tools. It also works great on setting up your own version of binstar so I would imagine it can do the trick for sophisticated custom enterprise package management.
Conda can be installed into a user folder (no super user permisssions) and works like magic with
conda install
and powerful virtual env expansion.
eggs way
This option was related to python-distribute.org and is largerly outdated (as well as the site) so let me point you to one of the ready to use yet compact setup.py examples I like:
A very practical example/implementation of mixing scripts and single python files into setup.py is giving here
Even better one from hyperopt
This quote was taken from the guide on the state of setup.py and still applies:
setup.py gone!
distutils gone!
distribute gone!
pip and virtualenv here to stay!
eggs ... gone!
I add one more point (from me)
wheels!
I would recommend to get some understanding of packaging-ecosystem (from the guide pointed by gotgenes) before attempting mindless copy-pasting.
Most of examples out there in the Internet start with
from distutils.core import setup
but this for example does not support building an egg python setup.py bdist_egg (as well as some other old features), which were available in
from setuptools import setup
And the reason is that they are deprecated.
Now according to the guide
Warning
Please use the Distribute package rather than the Setuptools package
because there are problems in this package that can and will not be
fixed.
deprecated setuptools are to be replaced by distutils2, which "will be part of the standard library in Python 3.3". I must say I liked setuptools and eggs and have not yet been completely convinced by convenience of distutils2. It requires
pip install Distutils2
and to install
python -m distutils2.run install
PS
Packaging never was trivial (one learns this by trying to develop a new one), so I assume a lot of things have gone for reason. I just hope this time it will be is done correctly.

I recommend the setup.py of the Python Packaging User Guide's example project.
The Python Packaging User Guide "aims to be the authoritative resource on how to package, publish and install Python distributions using current tools".
As of December 2022 however, the sample project has switched from setup.py to pyproject.toml. For a new project you may want to consider doing the same.

Here is the utility I wrote to generate a simple setup.py file (template) with useful comments and links. I hope, it will be useful.
Installation
sudo pip install setup-py-cli
Usage
To generate setup.py file just type in the terminal.
setup-py
Now setup.py file should occur in the current directory.
Generated setup.py
from distutils.core import setup
from setuptools import find_packages
import os
# User-friendly description from README.md
current_directory = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
try:
with open(os.path.join(current_directory, 'README.md'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
long_description = f.read()
except Exception:
long_description = ''
setup(
# Name of the package
name=<name of current directory>,
# Packages to include into the distribution
packages=find_packages('.'),
# Start with a small number and increase it with every change you make
# https://semver.org
version='1.0.0',
# Chose a license from here: https://help.github.com/articles/licensing-a-repository
# For example: MIT
license='',
# Short description of your library
description='',
# Long description of your library
long_description = long_description,
long_description_context_type = 'text/markdown',
# Your name
author='',
# Your email
author_email='',
# Either the link to your github or to your website
url='',
# Link from which the project can be downloaded
download_url='',
# List of keyword arguments
keywords=[],
# List of packages to install with this one
install_requires=[],
# https://pypi.org/classifiers/
classifiers=[]
)
Content of the generated setup.py:
automatically fulfilled package name based on the name of the current directory.
some basic fields to fulfill.
clarifying comments and links to useful resources.
automatically inserted description from README.md or an empty string if there is no README.md.
Here is the link to the repository. Fill free to enhance the solution.

Look at this complete example https://github.com/marcindulak/python-mycli of a small python package. It is based on packaging recommendations from https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/distributing.html, uses setup.py with distutils and in addition shows how to create RPM and deb packages.
The project's setup.py is included below (see the repo for the full source):
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
import sys
from distutils.core import setup
name = "mycli"
rootdir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
# Restructured text project description read from file
long_description = open(os.path.join(rootdir, 'README.md')).read()
# Python 2.4 or later needed
if sys.version_info < (2, 4, 0, 'final', 0):
raise SystemExit, 'Python 2.4 or later is required!'
# Build a list of all project modules
packages = []
for dirname, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(name):
if '__init__.py' in filenames:
packages.append(dirname.replace('/', '.'))
package_dir = {name: name}
# Data files used e.g. in tests
package_data = {name: [os.path.join(name, 'tests', 'prt.txt')]}
# The current version number - MSI accepts only version X.X.X
exec(open(os.path.join(name, 'version.py')).read())
# Scripts
scripts = []
for dirname, dirnames, filenames in os.walk('scripts'):
for filename in filenames:
if not filename.endswith('.bat'):
scripts.append(os.path.join(dirname, filename))
# Provide bat executables in the tarball (always for Win)
if 'sdist' in sys.argv or os.name in ['ce', 'nt']:
for s in scripts[:]:
scripts.append(s + '.bat')
# Data_files (e.g. doc) needs (directory, files-in-this-directory) tuples
data_files = []
for dirname, dirnames, filenames in os.walk('doc'):
fileslist = []
for filename in filenames:
fullname = os.path.join(dirname, filename)
fileslist.append(fullname)
data_files.append(('share/' + name + '/' + dirname, fileslist))
setup(name='python-' + name,
version=version, # PEP440
description='mycli - shows some argparse features',
long_description=long_description,
url='https://github.com/marcindulak/python-mycli',
author='Marcin Dulak',
author_email='X.Y#Z.com',
license='ASL',
# https://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=list_classifiers
classifiers=[
'Development Status :: 1 - Planning',
'Environment :: Console',
'License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License',
'Natural Language :: English',
'Operating System :: OS Independent',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 2',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.4',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.5',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.6',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.2',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.3',
'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4',
],
keywords='argparse distutils cli unittest RPM spec deb',
packages=packages,
package_dir=package_dir,
package_data=package_data,
scripts=scripts,
data_files=data_files,
)
and and RPM spec file which more or less follows Fedora/EPEL packaging guidelines may look like:
# Failsafe backport of Python2-macros for RHEL <= 6
%{!?python_sitelib: %global python_sitelib %(%{__python} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")}
%{!?python_sitearch: %global python_sitearch %(%{__python} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib(1))")}
%{!?python_version: %global python_version %(%{__python} -c "import sys; sys.stdout.write(sys.version[:3])")}
%{!?__python2: %global __python2 %{__python}}
%{!?python2_sitelib: %global python2_sitelib %{python_sitelib}}
%{!?python2_sitearch: %global python2_sitearch %{python_sitearch}}
%{!?python2_version: %global python2_version %{python_version}}
%{!?python2_minor_version: %define python2_minor_version %(%{__python} -c "import sys ; print sys.version[2:3]")}
%global upstream_name mycli
Name: python-%{upstream_name}
Version: 0.0.1
Release: 1%{?dist}
Summary: A Python program that demonstrates usage of argparse
%{?el5:Group: Applications/Scientific}
License: ASL 2.0
URL: https://github.com/marcindulak/%{name}
Source0: https://github.com/marcindulak/%{name}/%{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
%{?el5:BuildRoot: %(mktemp -ud %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-XXXXXX)}
BuildArch: noarch
%if 0%{?suse_version}
BuildRequires: python-devel
%else
BuildRequires: python2-devel
%endif
%description
A Python program that demonstrates usage of argparse.
%prep
%setup -qn %{name}-%{version}
%build
%{__python2} setup.py build
%install
%{?el5:rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT}
%{__python2} setup.py install --skip-build --prefix=%{_prefix} \
--optimize=1 --root $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
%check
export PYTHONPATH=`pwd`/build/lib
export PATH=`pwd`/build/scripts-%{python2_version}:${PATH}
%if 0%{python2_minor_version} >= 7
%{__python2} -m unittest discover -s %{upstream_name}/tests -p '*.py'
%endif
%clean
%{?el5:rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT}
%files
%doc LICENSE README.md
%{_bindir}/*
%{python2_sitelib}/%{upstream_name}
%{?!el5:%{python2_sitelib}/*.egg-info}
%changelog
* Wed Jan 14 2015 Marcin Dulak <X.Y#Z.com> - 0.0.1-1
- initial version

Here you will find the simplest possible example of using distutils and setup.py:
https://docs.python.org/2/distutils/introduction.html#distutils-simple-example
This assumes that all your code is in a single file and tells how to package a project containing a single module.