pkginfo

1.12.1.2 · active · verified Sat Mar 28

pkginfo is a Python library providing an API for querying metadata from Python package distributions. It can extract information from source distributions (sdists), binary distributions (bdists, including wheels), and installed packages by inspecting PKG-INFO, EGG-INFO, or dist-info files/directories. The library is actively maintained, with version 1.12.1.2 released in February 2025, and maintains a consistent release cadence.

Warnings

breaking Older versions of `pkginfo` (specifically pre-1.10.0) may not correctly parse or fully support newer PEP metadata versions (e.g., Metadata-Version 2.3 and higher) used by modern Python packages, leading to errors or incomplete information.
Fix: Upgrade to `pkginfo` version 1.10.0 or newer: `pip install --upgrade pkginfo`.
breaking Support for Python 2.7 was officially dropped in version 1.90. Users on Python 2.7 will encounter compatibility issues.
Fix: Migrate your project to Python 3.8 or newer, which is the minimum supported version.
gotcha The `pkginfo2` fork was created to address concerns regarding the original `pkginfo`'s historical potential for 'arbitrary imports and eval' when parsing package metadata. While `pkginfo` has evolved, users with stringent security requirements or those processing untrusted package metadata should be aware of this historical context and consider their threat model.
Fix: Ensure you are using the latest `pkginfo` version. For critical security contexts, carefully audit the package parsing mechanisms or consider sandboxing the operation.
gotcha When using `pkginfo.Installed` to query an installed package, the package's `.egg-info` or `.dist-info` metadata directory must be discoverable (e.g., located inside the package or adjacent to it). If metadata is not in a standard location, `pkginfo` may fail to find it.
Fix: Verify that the target installed package has its metadata (`.egg-info` or `.dist-info`) in a standard, discoverable location relative to the package files.

Install

pip install pkginfo Install stable version

Imports

SDist
```
from pkginfo import SDist
```
BDist
```
from pkginfo import BDist
```
Wheel
```
from pkginfo import Wheel
```
Installed
```
from pkginfo import Installed
```
Develop
```
from pkginfo import Develop
```

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to extract metadata from different package distribution types. It shows how to initialize `SDist`, `Wheel`, and `Installed` objects with appropriate paths or package names, and then access common metadata attributes like `name`, `version`, and `metadata_version`.

import os
from pkginfo import SDist, Wheel, Installed

# Example for a source distribution (sdist)
# Assuming 'example_package-1.0.tar.gz' exists in the current directory
# For a real-world use, replace with an actual sdist path
sdist_path = 'path/to/your/package-1.0.tar.gz'
if os.path.exists(sdist_path):
    sdist_info = SDist(sdist_path)
    print(f"SDist Name: {sdist_info.name}, Version: {sdist_info.version}, Metadata-Version: {sdist_info.metadata_version}")
else:
    print(f"SDist example skipped: {sdist_path} not found. Please provide a valid sdist file.")

# Example for a wheel distribution
# Assuming 'example_package-1.0-py3-none-any.whl' exists
wheel_path = 'path/to/your/package-1.0-py3-none-any.whl'
if os.path.exists(wheel_path):
    wheel_info = Wheel(wheel_path)
    print(f"Wheel Name: {wheel_info.name}, Version: {wheel_info.version}, Metadata-Version: {wheel_info.metadata_version}")
else:
    print(f"Wheel example skipped: {wheel_path} not found. Please provide a valid wheel file.")

# Example for an installed package (e.g., 'pip')
try:
    installed_info = Installed('pip')
    print(f"Installed Name: {installed_info.name}, Version: {installed_info.version}, Metadata-Version: {installed_info.metadata_version}")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Could not get info for 'pip' (maybe not installed or metadata not found): {e}")

view raw JSON →