whool - Odoo Addon Build Backend

1.3 · active · verified Thu Apr 16

whool is a build backend for Odoo addons, allowing them to be packaged and distributed as standard Python wheels and sdists. It leverages `pyproject.toml` for configuration and integrates with standard build tools like `pip` and `build`. The current version is 1.3, with releases occurring every few months to add features and improve compliance.

Common errors

```
whool: command not found
```
cause `whool` is not installed or not in your system's PATH.

fix Ensure `whool` is installed: `pip install whool`. If installed in a virtual environment, activate it or use `python -m whool`.
```
Error: "dependencies" command has been removed
```
cause You are using a `whool` version (0.3 or newer) that no longer supports the `dependencies` command, but your script or workflow is still trying to use it.

fix Remove calls to `whool dependencies` from your scripts. For listing dependencies, consider using other tools like `pyproject-dependencies`.
```
No such file or directory: 'pyproject.toml'
```
cause `whool` requires a `pyproject.toml` file in the project root to configure the build process, which is typically generated by `whool init`.

fix Run `whool init` in your project directory to generate the necessary `pyproject.toml` file.

Warnings

breaking The `dependencies` command was removed in v0.3, and `whool` stopped using internal `wheel` APIs. Code or scripts relying on this command or custom integrations with old `wheel` APIs will break.
Fix: Remove usages of the `whool dependencies` command and update any custom code that interacted with `whool`'s previous internal `wheel` API usage. Consider `pyproject-dependencies` for dependency listing.
gotcha Wheel and sdist names are normalized for better standard compliance, especially for addon names containing uppercase letters. This might subtly change output filenames for existing projects.
Fix: Update CI/CD pipelines or scripts that expect specific, non-normalized filenames for built distributions. Test builds to ensure compatibility with downstream systems.
gotcha When the `git` command is not available, `whool` copies all files to the distribution, potentially including unwanted files not covered by `.gitignore` rules, instead of relying on `git` for file selection. This can lead to larger or incorrect distributions.
Fix: Ensure `git` is installed and the build is performed within a git repository for accurate file inclusion based on `.gitignore`. If `git` is intentionally absent, carefully manage included files via `pyproject.toml` or other packaging mechanisms.

Install

pip install whool Install whool

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to use `whool` to initialize and build a simple Odoo addon into a standard Python wheel and sdist. It assumes `whool` and `build` (for `python -m build`) are installed.

# Create a dummy Odoo addon structure
mkdir my_odoo_addon
cd my_odoo_addon

# Create a minimal Odoo __manifest__.py (required by Odoo)
with open("__init__.py", "w") as f:
    f.write("__manifest__ = {'name': 'My Test Addon', 'version': '1.0.0', 'installable': True}")
mkdir models
with open("models/__init__.py", "w") as f:
    f.write("")

# Initialize whool configuration (generates pyproject.toml)
import subprocess
subprocess.run(["whool", "init"], check=True)

# Build the package (sdist and wheel)
subprocess.run(["python", "-m", "build"], check=True)

print("\nSuccessfully built package in 'dist/' directory:")
import os
print(os.listdir('dist'))

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