self-contained-runnable-python-package-template VS pip-tools

The approach I prefer is to not mess with setuptools etc at all in the first place, and simply make a nice executable package.

e.g. https://github.com/tpapastylianou/self-contained-runnable-py...

The title should be: How to create a "Python DISTRIBUTION package".

The term "python package" means something entirely different (or at the very least is ambiguous in a pypi/distribution context).

To add to the confusion, creating a totally normal, runnable python package in a manner that makes it completely self-contained such that it can be "distributed" in a standalone manner, while still being a totally normal boring python package, is also totally possible (if not preferred, in my view).

Shameless plug: https://github.com/tpapastylianou/self-contained-runnable-py...

Shameless plug: I use my own template, which organises things as runnable projects.

https://github.com/tpapastylianou/self-contained-runnable-py...

It serves my purposes very well (which is creating projects that represent standalone experiments).

Sharing in case someone else here finds it useful.

More recently I've modified this a bit to also generate nice html reports straight from the __main__.py file, independently of the underlying python code, and use this as lab books (where each lab book contains a single analysis and its report). I'll upload this template separately when I find the time.

> Why is the "requirements.txt" file a stupid flat listing of all transitive dependencies with pinned versions? It makes it harder to change library versions even if there are no true conflicts.

My friend, here is what you seek: https://github.com/jazzband/pip-tools

requirements.txt is flat because it's really the output of `pip freeze`. It's supposed to completely and exactly rebuild the environment. Unfortunately it's far too flexible and people abuse it by putting in only direct dependencies etc.

If you're writing packages, you don't need a requirements.txt at all, by the way. Package dependencies (only direct dependencies) live in pyproject.toml with the rest of the package config. requirements.txt (and pip tools) are only for when you want to freeze the whole environment, like for a server deployment.

For all my projects I found myself regenerating manual lock files using complex shell commands with pip-compile to get a reproducible environments across devices using a custom pre-install-command. I finally decided that instead of hacking together the same solution on all my projects I would build a plugin that handles this complexity for me.

Instead of venv, we are using pip-tools in this starter kit. pip-tools take things further in dependency management. Check out what pip-tools does in their official GitHub repo. In short, it helps your project find the best match for the dependent packages. For example, you might need two packages A and B in your project that requires same package C under the hood. But A requires any version of C from 1.0.1 to 1.0.10 and B requires any version of C from 1.0.7 to 1.0.15. Pip tools will automatically compile the version of 'C' that suits for both of your packages.

I've created a small project called just-pip-tools that combines pip-tools and just to manage Python dependencies in a layered approach. This isn't a magic bullet; it's a set of files you can adapt to your needs.

For small projects I recommend pip-tools. Just write packet list in requirements.in and pip-compile compile a requirements.txt with comments.

Take a look at pip-tools, great package. https://github.com/jazzband/pip-tools

pip-tools

I recommend generating a lockfile to document this information, as you might do with pip-tools.

Check out pip-tools [1] which does exactly that, albeit in a slightly more polished way.

[1]: https://github.com/jazzband/pip-tools