Python folder structure for project directory and easy import

Question

My team has a folder of several small projects in python3. Amongst them, we have a utility folder with several utility functions, that are used throughout the projects. But the way to import it is very uncomfortable. This is the structure we use:

temp_projects
    util
        storage.py
        geometry.py
    project1
        project1.py
    project2
        project2.py

The problem is that the import in the projects looks terrible:

sys.path.insert(1, os.path.join(sys.path[0], '..'))
import util.geometry

util.geometry.rotate_coordinates(....)

Also, pycharm and other tools are having trouble understanding it and to supply completion.

Is there some neater way to do that?

Edit: All of the projects and utils are very much work-in-progress and are modified often, so I'm looking for something as flexible and comfortable as possible

Answer 1

PYTHONPATH environment variable might be a way to go. Just set it to projects folder location:

PYTHONPATH=/somepath/temp_projects

and you'll be able to use util as follows:

import util.geometry

util.geometry.rotate_coordinates(....)

Also this will be recognized by PyCharm automatically.

Answer 2

I believe the correct route would be completely different than what you are doing right now. Each project should be stored in a different Git repository, share modules should be added as git submodules. Once those projects will get larger and more complex (and they probably will), it would be easier to manage them separately.

In short

Projects structure should be:

Project_1
  |- utils <submodule>
       |- storage.py
       |- geometry.py
  |- main.py

Project_2
  |- utils <submodule>
       |- storage.py
       |- geometry.py
  |- main.py

Working with submodules

### Adding a submodule to an existing git directory
git submodule add <git@github ...> <optional path/to/submodule>

### Pulling latest version from master branch for all submodules
git submodule update --recursive --remote

### Removing submodule from project
# Remove the submodule entry from .git/config
git submodule deinit -f path/to/submodule

# Remove the submodule directory from the project's .git/modules directory
rm -rf .git/modules/path/to/submodule

# Remove the entry in .gitmodules and remove the submodule directory located at path/to/submodule
git rm -f path/to/submodule

Further reading https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules