"Development mode"

[Tarek Ziadé]

On 9/20/12 9:02 PM, py_lrnr wrote:
> I am new to python and I have come across the following command and its description:
>
>> Now to be able to run the project you will need to install it and its >dependencies.
>> python setup.py develop
> I looked up what the 'develop' argument does and found:
>
>> Extra commands:
>>   develop           install package in 'development mode'
> I searched for a description of 'development mode' but could not find a good description.
>
> Can anyone (very briefly) explain to me, in a sentence or two:
>
> what 'development mode' is?


> how 'development mode' differs from other 'modes'?
> why/when I would use 'development mode'?
> what 'development mode' does or does not allow me to do?
>
> Many thanks in advance.

This a setuptools / distribute feature that allows you to add a project 
to your Python environment without installing it - so you can continue 
its "development"

In other words, when you call "python setup.py develop", setuptools will 
compile the metadata and hook your project into Python's site-package,
but the packages and modules that will be used are the one in the 
directory where you've run that command.

This is useful to continue working on your code and testing it without 
having to run "python setup.py install" on every run

see 
http://packages.python.org/distribute/setuptools.html#develop-deploy-the-project-source-in-development-mode