How to package my python program so the user can install it using setup.py

Question

I have a single python file right now and I am asked to convert it into a python module where the user can install it using python setup.py install. I am not sure how to do that. I have followed some instructions online and created the setup.py file and the init.py file. The setup.py file looks like this:

import setuptools

with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
    long_description = fh.read()

setuptools.setup(
    name="",
    version="0.0.1",
    author="",
    author_email="",
    description="",
    long_description=long_description,
    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
    url="https://github.com/pypa/sampleproject",
    packages=setuptools.find_packages(),
    classifiers=[
        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
        "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
        "Operating System :: OS Independent",
    ],
    python_requires='>=3.6',
)

I am not sure if this setup.py file is correct.Also I don't know what I am supposed to do next. Can anyone help me and tell me what am I supposed to do? Is there tutorial that teaches this? I can't really find anything related. Also is my setup.py correct? Thanks!

Answer 1

There are several ways to do packaging. packaging Python Projects on python.org and setuptools docs are a good start.

Unfortunately, examples tend to focus on package distributions, not single modules. Instead of packages, use the py_modules keyword. Assuming your module is called "test.py", this setup.py will work

import setuptools

with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
    long_description = fh.read()

setuptools.setup(
    name="test",
    version="0.0.1",
    author="",
    author_email="",
    description="",
    long_description=long_description,
    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
    url="https://github.com/pypa/sampleproject",
    py_modules = ["test"],
    classifiers=[
        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
        "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
        "Operating System :: OS Independent",
    ],
    python_requires='>=3.6',
)

If you think this will expand to multiple modules, then you can go back to using setuptools.find_packages(). In this case, you want a subdirectory named after your desired package and put the init in there

some_random_project_file
    +-- setup.py
        README.md
        LICENCE
    +-- test
        +-- __init__.py
            test.py