3 PEP 314: Metadata for Python Software Packages v1.1

Some simple dependency support was added to Distutils. The setup() function now has requires, provides, and obsoletes keyword parameters. When you build a source distribution using the sdist command, the dependency information will be recorded in the PKG-INFO file.

Another new keyword parameter is download_url, which should be set to a URL for the package's source code. This means it's now possible to look up an entry in the package index, determine the dependencies for a package, and download the required packages.

VERSION = '1.0'
setup(name='PyPackage', 
      version=VERSION,
      requires=['numarray', 'zlib (>=1.1.4)'],
      obsoletes=['OldPackage']
      download_url=('http://www.example.com/pypackage/dist/pkg-%s.tar.gz'
                    % VERSION),
     )

Another new enhancement to the Python package index at http://cheeseshop.python.org is storing source and binary archives for a package. The new upload Distutils command will upload a package to the repository.

Before a package can be uploaded, you must be able to build a distribution using the sdist Distutils command. Once that works, you can run python setup.py upload to add your package to the PyPI archive. Optionally you can GPG-sign the package by supplying the --sign and --identity options.

Package uploading was implemented by Martin von Löwis and Richard Jones.

See Also:

PEP 314, Metadata for Python Software Packages v1.1
PEP proposed and written by A.M. Kuchling, Richard Jones, and Fred Drake; implemented by Richard Jones and Fred Drake.

See About this document... for information on suggesting changes.