How to exclude a single file from package with setuptools and setup.py

Question

I am working on blowdrycss. The repository is here.

I want the settings file for blowdrycss_settings.py to be excluded from the final package on pypi. The intention is to dynamically build a custom settings file that will be placed in the users virtualenv / project folder.

In setup.py, I have the following:

packages=find_packages(exclude=['blowdrycss_settings.py', ]),

I also tried exclude_package_data:

exclude_package_data={
    '': ['blowdrycss_settings.py'],
    '': ['blowdrycss/blowdrycss_settings.py'],
    'blowdrycss': ['blowdrycss_settings.py'],
},

I then run python setup.py sdist bdist.

However, when I look in the build folder I still see blowdrycss_settings.py:

- build 
    - lib
        - blowdrycss_settings.py

It seems like it should be simple to just exclude a file.

How do I exclude blowdrycss_settings.py from the distributed package?

Answer 1

Here is my solution.

Underneath of blowdrycss, I created a new module called settings so the directory structure now looks like this:

blowdrycss
    blowdrycss
        settings
            blowdrycss_settings.py

Based on this reference, inside of setup.py I have the following:

packages=find_packages(exclude=['*.settings', ]),   

To build the distribution:

1. Delete the build, dist, and .egg-info folders.
2. Run python setup.py sdist bdist

In retrospect, it is good that I was unable to do what I was originally attempting. The new structure feels cleaner and is more modular.