Setup.py

  • See stack, the hitchhiker’s guide to python and this description of seutp.py and why it’s best to use pyproject.toml

  • setup.py is a python file, the presence of which is an indication that the module/package you are about to install has likely been packaged and distributed with Distutils, which is the standard for distributing Python Modules.

  • This allows you to easily install Python packages. Often it’s enough to write:

    1

    $ pip install .

    pip will use setup.py to install your module. Avoid calling setup.py directly.

  • The setup.py file is at the heart of a Python project. It describes all of the metadata about your project. There a quite a few fields you can add to a project to give it a rich set of metadata describing the project. However, there are only three required fields: name, version, and packages

  • setup.py also allows to install a package locally without the need to change PYTHON_PATH or sys.path