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pythonsetuptoolsdistutils

Using setuptools to install files to arbitrary locations

Is there a way to install files to arbitrary locations with setuptools? I've used Data Files with setuptools before, but those are typically installed inside the package directory. I need to install a plugin file that will be located in the install directory of another application.

Solution

  • It seems that setuptools has purposely made it difficult to install files outside of the package directory.

    I instead included the plugin files as package data and used the Entry Points feature of setuptools to expose the install/uninstall functions for the plugin files I wanted to distribute.

    setup(
    ...
    entry_points={
        'console_scripts': [
            'mypackage_install_plugins = mypackage:install_plugins',
            'mypackage_uninstall_plugins = mypackage:uninstall_plugins',
        ],                
    }
)

    I just added an additional step to the installation instructions to run the following command after installing the python package:

    $> mypackage_install_plugins