Python's import situation has driven me to the brink of imsanity

[dimva13 at gmail.com]

Running python setup.py develop doesn't work, it gives me this error: error: invalid command 'develop'

Running pip install -e . does work. This is somewhat reasonable, and I think may work for my purposes, but it has the following drawbacks:
- you have to create a fake package with a fake version, and all the setup.py boilerplate
- to get to your python files, you have to go through an additional subdirectory (ex: project_name/project_name/package.py)
- you have to remember to run pip install -e . before you can use anything inside the project
- you should be using a virtualenv (I am), otherwise things can get messy if you have these fake projects installed in a global location

All in all, this seems like a hack - I'm creating a fake package with a fake version just so I can do imports sanely. Still less of a hack than imsanity, though.

Thanks for the advice! I just wish it was better documented and easier to find. I have several years of professional python experience at 3 different companies, and I've never seen this solution anywhere - all the companies solved it by setting PYTHONPATH to the base directory. I'll try to spread the word.

On Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 11:09:35 AM UTC-5, Kevin Conway wrote:
> You can use 'setup.py develop' or 'pip install -e' to install your package
> in editable mode. It makes it so your local code is used. Modifications are
> seen immediately.
> 
> On Sun, Feb 7, 2016, 08:16  <dimva13 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I see that this would work once you've installed the package, but how do
> > you develop it? Say you are working on a change that modifies both email.py
> > and reports.py. Do you run setup.py every time you make a change in
> > email.py?
> >
> > On Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 1:35:15 AM UTC-5, Kevin Conway wrote:
> > > > My question is: is this crazy? Please tell me there's a better way and
> > I
> > > just wasted my time creating this package.
> > >
> > > There is a better way and you have wasted your time creating this
> > package.
> > >
> > > I hear your problem statement as asking two questions. The first is: What
> > > is the right way to include executable content in my Python project? The
> > > second is: How do I expose executable content from a Python project?
> > >
> > > As to the first question, from your project README:
> > > > Say you have a python project (not a package), with the following
> > > structure:
> > >
> > > All Python code that you want to install and make available in any form,
> > > import or executable, _must_ be contained within a Python package.
> > > Organizing Python code in any way other than Python packages will result
> > in
> > > the challenges you have described. The correct way to include executable
> > > content is to place the Python code within the package structure. It
> > should
> > > not be put in other directories within the repository root.
> > >
> > > As to the second question, once all Python code is contained within a
> > > package that can be installed you can use setuptools entry points to
> > expose
> > > the executable code. The setup() function from setuptools that is used to
> > > create setup.py files has an argument called 'entry_points' that allows
> > you
> > > to expose executable content over the command line. See [1] and [2] for
> > > more details.
> > >
> > > Feel free to reach out to me off-list if you have a specific project you
> > > need advice on. The rules for organizing and packaging Python code aren't
> > > complex but they tend to cause new Python developers to stumble at
> > first. A
> > > general rule I give everyone when talking about packaging or importing
> > > code: If you have to modify sys.path to makes something work then you
> > have
> > > most certainly made a mistake.
> > >
> > > [1]
> > >
> > https://pythonhosted.org/setuptools/setuptools.html#automatic-script-creation
> > > [2]
> > >
> > http://python-packaging.readthedocs.org/en/latest/command-line-scripts.html#the-console-scripts-entry-point
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, Feb 6, 2016 at 8:54 PM Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 1:47 PM,  <dimva13 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > Imsanity allows you to make imports usable (not ideal, but at least
> > > > usable) for python projects without having to manage PYTHONPATHs or do
> > > > whacky stuff like running files with python -m or put even whackier
> > > > boilerplate at the top of every file. And all it requires is 'import
> > > > imsanity' at the top of every file. You can put it in a macro or even
> > just
> > > > type it because it's short and easy to remember.
> > > > >
> > > > > My question is: is this crazy? Please tell me there's a better way
> > and I
> > > > just wasted my time creating this package. There's nothing I'd like to
> > hear
> > > > more.
> > > >
> > > > Well, anything that makes you type "import imsanity" at the top of
> > > > every script MUST be crazy. :) I don't know about the actual
> > > > content/purpose though. Good luck with it!
> > > >
> > > > ChrisA
> > > > --
> > > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
> > > >
> >
> > --
> > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
> >