Using from setuptools.command.install import install, I can easily run a custom post-install script if I run python setup.py install. This is fairly trivial to do.
Currently, the script does nothing but print some text but I want it to deal with system changes that need to happen when a new package is installed -- for example, back up the database that the package is using.
I want to generate the a Python wheel for my package and then copy that and install it on a a set of deployment machines. However, my custom install script is no longer run on the deployment machine.
What am I doing wrong? Is that even possible?
PEP 427 which specifies the wheel package format does not leave any provisions for custom pre or post installation scripts.
Therefore running a custom script is not possible during wheel package installation.
You'll have to add the custom script to a place in your package where you expect the developer to execute first.