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class="theme-icon-when-dark"><use href="#svg-moon"></use></svg> <svg class="theme-icon-when-light"><use href="#svg-sun"></use></svg> </button> </div> <label class="toc-overlay-icon toc-content-icon" for="__toc"> <div class="visually-hidden">Toggle table of contents sidebar</div> <i class="icon"><svg><use href="#svg-toc"></use></svg></i> </label> </div> <article role="main"> <section id="how-to-modernize-a-setup-py-based-project"> <span id="modernize-setup-py-project"></span><h1>How to modernize a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> based project?<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-modernize-a-setup-py-based-project" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h1> <section id="should-pyproject-toml-be-added"> <h2>Should <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> be added?<a class="headerlink" href="#should-pyproject-toml-be-added" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>A <a class="reference internal" href="../../glossary/#term-pyproject.toml"><span class="xref std std-term">pyproject.toml</span></a> file is strongly recommended. The presence of a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> file itself does not bring much. <a class="footnote-reference brackets" href="#id2" id="id1" role="doc-noteref"><span class="fn-bracket">[</span>1<span class="fn-bracket">]</span></a> What is actually strongly recommended is the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[build-system]</span></code> table in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code>.</p> <aside class="footnote-list brackets"> <aside class="footnote brackets" id="id2" role="doc-footnote"> <span class="label"><span class="fn-bracket">[</span><a role="doc-backlink" href="#id1">1</a><span class="fn-bracket">]</span></span> <p>Note that it has influence on the build isolation feature of pip, see below.</p> </aside> </aside> </section> <section id="should-setup-py-be-deleted"> <h2>Should <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> be deleted?<a class="headerlink" href="#should-setup-py-be-deleted" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>No, <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> can exist in a modern <a class="reference internal" href="../../key_projects/#setuptools"><span class="std std-ref">Setuptools</span></a> based project. The <a class="reference internal" href="../../glossary/#term-setup.py"><span class="xref std std-term">setup.py</span></a> file is a valid configuration file for setuptools that happens to be written in Python. However, the following commands are deprecated and <strong>MUST NOT</strong> be run anymore, and their recommended replacement commands should be used instead:</p> <div class="table-wrapper docutils container"> <table class="docutils align-default"> <thead> <tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Deprecated</p></th> <th class="head"><p>Recommendation</p></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">setup.py</span> <span class="pre">install</span></code></p></td> <td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-m</span> <span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">.</span></code></p></td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">setup.py</span> <span class="pre">develop</span></code></p></td> <td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-m</span> <span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">--editable</span> <span class="pre">.</span></code></p></td> </tr> <tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">setup.py</span> <span class="pre">sdist</span></code></p></td> <td rowspan="2"><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-m</span> <span class="pre">build</span></code></p></td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">setup.py</span> <span class="pre">bdist_wheel</span></code></p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <p>For more details:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../discussions/setup-py-deprecated/#setup-py-deprecated"><span class="std std-ref">Is setup.py deprecated?</span></a></p></li> </ul> </section> <section id="where-to-start"> <h2>Where to start?<a class="headerlink" href="#where-to-start" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="../../glossary/#term-Project"><span class="xref std std-term">project</span></a> must contain a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> file at the root of its source tree that contains a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[build-system]</span></code> table like so:</p> <div class="highlight-toml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">[build-system]</span> <span class="n">requires</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s2">"setuptools"</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="n">build-backend</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"setuptools.build_meta"</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>This is the standardized method of letting <a class="reference internal" href="../../glossary/#term-Build-Frontend"><span class="xref std std-term">build frontends</span></a> know that <a class="reference internal" href="../../key_projects/#setuptools"><span class="std std-ref">Setuptools</span></a> is the <a class="reference internal" href="../../glossary/#term-Build-Backend"><span class="xref std std-term">build backend</span></a> for this project.</p> <p>Note that the presence of a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> file (even if empty) triggers <a class="reference internal" href="../../key_projects/#pip"><span class="std std-ref">pip</span></a> to change its default behavior to use <em>build isolation</em>.</p> <p>For more details:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../distributing-packages-using-setuptools/#distributing-packages"><span class="std std-ref">Packaging and distributing projects</span></a></p></li> <li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../specifications/pyproject-toml/#pyproject-build-system-table"><span class="std std-ref">Declaring build system dependencies: the [build-system] table</span></a></p></li> <li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/reference/build-system/pyproject-toml/" title="(in pip v25.0)"><span>pyproject.toml</span></a></p></li> </ul> </section> <section id="how-to-handle-additional-build-time-dependencies"> <h2>How to handle additional build-time dependencies?<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-handle-additional-build-time-dependencies" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>On top of setuptools itself, if <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> depends on other third-party libraries (outside of Python’s standard library), those must be listed in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">requires</span></code> list of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[build-system]</span></code> table, so that the build frontend knows to install them when building the <a class="reference internal" href="../../glossary/#term-Distribution-Package"><span class="xref std std-term">distributions</span></a>.</p> <p>For example, a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> file such as this:</p> <div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">setuptools</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">some_build_toolkit</span> <span class="c1"># comes from the `some-build-toolkit` library</span> <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_version</span><span class="p">():</span> <span class="n">version</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">some_build_toolkit</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">compute_version</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">version</span> <span class="n">setuptools</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setup</span><span class="p">(</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"my-project"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">version</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">get_version</span><span class="p">(),</span> <span class="p">)</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>requires a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> file like this (<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> stays unchanged):</p> <div class="highlight-toml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">[build-system]</span> <span class="n">requires</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"setuptools"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"some-build-toolkit"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">]</span> <span class="n">build-backend</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"setuptools.build_meta"</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>For more details:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../specifications/pyproject-toml/#pyproject-build-system-table"><span class="std std-ref">Declaring build system dependencies: the [build-system] table</span></a></p></li> </ul> </section> <section id="what-is-the-build-isolation-feature"> <h2>What is the build isolation feature?<a class="headerlink" href="#what-is-the-build-isolation-feature" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>Build frontends typically create an ephemeral virtual environment where they install only the build dependencies (and their dependencies) that are listed under <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">build-system.requires</span></code> and trigger the build in that environment.</p> <p>For some projects this isolation is unwanted and it can be deactivated as follows:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-m</span> <span class="pre">build</span> <span class="pre">--no-isolation</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-m</span> <span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">--no-build-isolation</span></code></p></li> </ul> <p>For more details:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/reference/build-system/pyproject-toml/" title="(in pip v25.0)"><span>pyproject.toml</span></a></p></li> </ul> </section> <section id="how-to-handle-packaging-metadata"> <h2>How to handle packaging metadata?<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-handle-packaging-metadata" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>All static metadata can optionally be moved to a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[project]</span></code> table in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code>.</p> <p>For example, a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> file such as this:</p> <div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">setuptools</span> <span class="n">setuptools</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setup</span><span class="p">(</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"my-project"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">version</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"1.2.3"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">)</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>can be entirely replaced by a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> file like this:</p> <div class="highlight-toml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">[build-system]</span> <span class="n">requires</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s2">"setuptools"</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="n">build-backend</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"setuptools.build_meta"</span> <span class="k">[project]</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"my-project"</span> <span class="n">version</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"1.2.3"</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Read <a class="reference internal" href="../../specifications/pyproject-toml/#pyproject-project-table"><span class="std std-ref">Declaring project metadata: the [project] table</span></a> for the full specification of the content allowed in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[project]</span></code> table.</p> </section> <section id="how-to-handle-dynamic-metadata"> <h2>How to handle dynamic metadata?<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-handle-dynamic-metadata" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>If some packaging metadata fields are not static they need to be listed as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dynamic</span></code> in this <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[project]</span></code> table.</p> <p>For example, a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> file such as this:</p> <div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">setuptools</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">some_build_toolkit</span> <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_version</span><span class="p">():</span> <span class="n">version</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">some_build_toolkit</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">compute_version</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">version</span> <span class="n">setuptools</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setup</span><span class="p">(</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"my-project"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">version</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">get_version</span><span class="p">(),</span> <span class="p">)</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>can be modernized as follows:</p> <div class="highlight-toml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">[build-system]</span> <span class="n">requires</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"setuptools"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"some-build-toolkit"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">]</span> <span class="n">build-backend</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"setuptools.build_meta"</span> <span class="k">[project]</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s2">"my-project"</span> <span class="n">dynamic</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s2">"version"</span><span class="p">]</span> </pre></div> </div> <div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">setuptools</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">some_build_toolkit</span> <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_version</span><span class="p">():</span> <span class="n">version</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">some_build_toolkit</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">compute_version</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">version</span> <span class="n">setuptools</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setup</span><span class="p">(</span> <span class="n">version</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">get_version</span><span class="p">(),</span> <span class="p">)</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>For more details:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../specifications/pyproject-toml/#declaring-project-metadata-dynamic"><span class="std std-ref">dynamic</span></a></p></li> </ul> </section> <section id="what-if-something-that-can-not-be-changed-expects-a-setup-py-file"> <h2>What if something that can not be changed expects a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> file?<a class="headerlink" href="#what-if-something-that-can-not-be-changed-expects-a-setup-py-file" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <p>For example, a process exists that can not be changed easily and it needs to execute a command such as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">setup.py</span> <span class="pre">--name</span></code>.</p> <p>It is perfectly fine to leave a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> file in the project source tree even after all its content has been moved to <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code>. This file can be as minimalistic as this:</p> <div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">setuptools</span> <span class="n">setuptools</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">setup</span><span class="p">()</span> </pre></div> </div> </section> <section id="where-to-read-more-about-this"> <h2>Where to read more about this?<a class="headerlink" href="#where-to-read-more-about-this" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../specifications/pyproject-toml/#pyproject-toml-spec"><span class="std std-ref">pyproject.toml specification</span></a></p></li> <li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/reference/build-system/pyproject-toml/" title="(in pip v25.0)"><span>pyproject.toml</span></a></p></li> <li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/build_meta.html" title="(in setuptools v75.5.0.post20241113)"><span>Build System Support</span></a></p></li> </ul> </section> </section> </article> </div> <footer> <div class="related-pages"> <a class="next-page" href="../section-hosting/"> <div class="page-info"> <div class="context"> <span>Next</span> </div> <div class="title">Hosting</div> </div> <svg class="furo-related-icon"><use href="#svg-arrow-right"></use></svg> </a> <a class="prev-page" href="../publishing-package-distribution-releases-using-github-actions-ci-cd-workflows/"> <svg class="furo-related-icon"><use href="#svg-arrow-right"></use></svg> <div class="page-info"> <div class="context"> <span>Previous</span> </div> <div class="title">Publishing package distribution releases using GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows</div> </div> </a> </div> <div class="bottom-of-page"> <div class="left-details"> <div class="copyright"> Copyright © 2013–2020, PyPA </div> Made with <a href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a> and <a class="muted-link" href="https://pradyunsg.me">@pradyunsg</a>'s <a href="https://github.com/pradyunsg/furo">Furo</a> <div class="last-updated"> Last updated on Nov 13, 2024</div> </div> <div class="right-details"> </div> </div> </footer> </div> <aside class="toc-drawer"> <div class="toc-sticky toc-scroll"> <div class="toc-title-container"> <span class="toc-title"> On this page </span> </div> <div class="toc-tree-container"> <div class="toc-tree"> <ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#">How to modernize a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> based project?</a><ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#should-pyproject-toml-be-added">Should <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyproject.toml</span></code> be added?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#should-setup-py-be-deleted">Should <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> be deleted?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#where-to-start">Where to start?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-handle-additional-build-time-dependencies">How to handle additional build-time dependencies?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#what-is-the-build-isolation-feature">What is the build isolation feature?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-handle-packaging-metadata">How to handle packaging metadata?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-handle-dynamic-metadata">How to handle dynamic metadata?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#what-if-something-that-can-not-be-changed-expects-a-setup-py-file">What if something that can not be changed expects a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setup.py</span></code> file?</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#where-to-read-more-about-this">Where to read more about this?</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </aside> </div> </div><script src="../../_static/documentation_options.js?v=187304be"></script> <script src="../../_static/doctools.js?v=888ff710"></script> <script src="../../_static/sphinx_highlight.js?v=dc90522c"></script> <script src="../../_static/scripts/furo.js?v=32e29ea5"></script> <script src="../../_static/tabs.js?v=3ee01567"></script> <script src="../../_static/clipboard.min.js?v=a7894cd8"></script> <script src="../../_static/copybutton.js?v=cb5fb026"></script> <script data-domain="packaging.python.org" defer="defer" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script> </body> </html>