Backports Entry Points Selectable

1.3.0 · active · verified Wed Apr 15

backports.entry_points_selectable is a compatibility shim that provides selectable entry points, specifically designed to ease the adoption of `importlib.metadata` 3.6+. It enables 'selectable' entry points (passing keyword arguments to `entry_points()` or invoking `.select()` on the result) even on older Python versions (prior to 3.10) or when `importlib_metadata` is older than 3.6. The current version is 1.3.0, and it receives updates as needed to maintain compatibility.

Warnings

gotcha This backport is primarily for Python versions older than 3.10 or environments using `importlib_metadata` older than 3.6. For Python 3.10+ (which includes the selectable entry point interface in `importlib.metadata` directly), this library may be unnecessary and can be removed.
Fix: On Python 3.10 and newer, remove `backports-entry-points-selectable` from your dependencies and import `entry_points` directly from `importlib.metadata`. For example, replace `from backports.entry_points_selectable import entry_points` with `from importlib.metadata import entry_points`.
deprecated The dictionary-like interface for `entry_points()` (e.g., `entry_points()['group_name']`) is deprecated in upstream `importlib.metadata` (Python 3.10+ and `importlib_metadata` 3.9+). While `backports.entry_points_selectable` aims to provide compatibility, relying on the dict interface is discouraged.
Fix: Always use the 'selectable' interface by passing keyword arguments directly to `entry_points()` (e.g., `entry_points(group='console_scripts')`) or by calling the `.select()` method on the returned `EntryPoints` object for explicit filtering.
gotcha This library only shims the `entry_points` function. If your project uses other APIs from `importlib.metadata` (e.g., `metadata`, `version`, `files`, `requires`), you might still need to explicitly depend on the `importlib_metadata` PyPI package if targeting Python versions older than 3.8.
Fix: If supporting Python < 3.8 and using other `importlib.metadata` APIs, ensure `importlib_metadata` is also a dependency in your project. For example: `install_requires = ['importlib_metadata; python_version < "3.8"', 'backports-entry-points-selectable']`.

Install

pip install backports-entry-points-selectable Install latest version

Imports

entry_points
wrong:
```
from importlib.metadata import entry_points
```
correct:
```
from backports.entry_points_selectable import entry_points
```
On Python versions older than 3.10 (or `importlib_metadata` < 3.6), importing `entry_points` directly from `importlib.metadata` will not provide the 'selectable' interface (i.e., passing keyword arguments like `group` or `name` or using the `.select()` method on the result). This shim explicitly provides that compatibility.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to import and use the `entry_points` function provided by `backports.entry_points_selectable`. It shows how to retrieve entry points by group and how to find a specific entry point by both group and name, utilizing the 'selectable' interface. This is the primary functionality backported by the library.

from backports.entry_points_selectable import entry_points

# Example: Find all console scripts
console_scripts = entry_points(group='console_scripts')
print(f"Found {len(console_scripts)} console scripts.")
for ep in console_scripts:
    print(f"  - {ep.name}: {ep.value}")

# Example: Find a specific entry point by name and group
try:
    (mypy_ep,) = entry_points(group='console_scripts', name='mypy')
    print(f"\nFound specific entry point: {mypy_ep.name} -> {mypy_ep.value}")
    # Load and execute the entry point (caution: this runs code)
    # mypy_main = mypy_ep.load()
    # mypy_main([])
except ValueError:
    print("\n'mypy' console script not found or multiple found.")

# Fallback using .select() if no arguments were passed initially (less common with this backport)
all_entry_points = entry_points()
python_eps = all_entry_points.select(group='pytest11')
print(f"\nFound {len(python_eps)} pytest plugins.")
for ep in python_eps:
    print(f"  - {ep.name}: {ep.value}")

view raw JSON →