Simplify your setup.py

Warnings

• gotcha Using tag-based versioning (e.g., `versioning='distance'` or `versioning='post'`) requires Git to be installed and accessible, with a version of 1.8.4 or higher. If Git is not available or too old, version detection will fail, which can be a common issue in CI/CD environments or minimal Docker images.
  Fix: Ensure `git` is installed and meets the minimum version requirement in your build environment. If not using Git, specify the `version` explicitly in `setup()` or a dedicated `__version__.py` file.
• gotcha Any parameters explicitly passed to `setuptools.setup()` will *always* take precedence over metadata deduced by setupmeta. This is by design, allowing granular control, but can lead to confusion if expected behavior is overridden by inadvertently explicit (or outdated) values in `setup.py`.
  Fix: Review your `setup.py` and remove any redundant metadata fields that you intend for setupmeta to deduce. Use `python setup.py explain` to inspect the final deduced metadata.
• deprecated setupmeta's primary integration point is via `setup_requires` in `setup.py`. While functional, the `setup_requires` mechanism is considered legacy in modern Python packaging (PEP 517/518), which prefers specifying build dependencies in `pyproject.toml` under `build-system.requires`. Not configuring `pyproject.toml` correctly may lead to issues with modern build tools or future `setuptools` versions.
  Fix: For new projects or existing projects adopting modern packaging, ensure you have a `pyproject.toml` file that lists `setuptools` and `setupmeta` as build-time dependencies, e.g.: `[build-system]\nrequires = ["setuptools>=61.2", "wheel", "setupmeta"]\nbuild-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"`. This ensures setupmeta is available during the build process.

Install

• pip install setupmeta Install latest version

Imports

• setup

  from setuptools import setup

  setupmeta is used by specifying it in `setup_requires` within the `setup()` call; it does not typically expose symbols for direct import into user code.

Quickstart

setupmeta significantly shortens your `setup.py`. By placing `setup_requires="setupmeta"` in your `setuptools.setup()` call, setupmeta will automatically deduce common project metadata from existing files (like `README.rst`, `__init__.py`, `requirements.txt`). The `python setup.py explain` command is invaluable for seeing exactly what metadata setupmeta has detected from your project's structure and files.

import os
import subprocess

# Create a dummy project structure for demonstration
project_name = "myproject_example"

os.makedirs(project_name, exist_ok=True)
with open(os.path.join(project_name, "__init__.py"), "w") as f:
    f.write("__version__ = '0.0.1'\n")
    f.write("__title__ = 'My Example Project'\n")

with open(os.path.join(project_name, "../README.rst"), "w") as f:
    f.write("My Example Project\n")
    f.write("===================\n\n")
    f.write("A simple project to demonstrate setupmeta.")

with open(os.path.join(project_name, "../requirements.txt"), "w") as f:
    f.write("click\n")
    f.write("requests>=2.0.0\n")

# Create a minimal setup.py
setup_py_content = """
from setuptools import setup

setup(
    name="%s",
    versioning="distance",  # Optional: activates tag-based versioning based on git
    setup_requires=["setupmeta"]  # This tells setuptools to use setupmeta
)
""" % project_name

with open(os.path.join(project_name, "../setup.py"), "w") as f:
    f.write(setup_py_content)

print(f"Project '{project_name}' and setup.py created. Now run: ")
print(f"cd {os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))}")
print(f"python setup.py explain # To see what setupmeta deduces")
print(f"python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel # To build distributions")

# Example of running the command programmatically (requires project setup from above)
# try:
#     # This command needs to be run from the directory containing setup.py
#     # For this example, assume it's run in the parent directory of 'myproject_example'
#     original_dir = os.getcwd()
#     os.chdir(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
#     subprocess.run(["python", "setup.py", "explain"], check=True)
# finally:
#     os.chdir(original_dir)