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<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" id="furo-main-content"> <section id="recording-the-direct-url-origin-of-installed-distributions"> <span id="direct-url"></span><h1>Recording the Direct URL Origin of installed distributions<a class="headerlink" href="#recording-the-direct-url-origin-of-installed-distributions" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1> <p>This document specifies a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">direct_url.json</span></code> file in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.dist-info</span></code> directory of an installed distribution, to record the Direct URL Origin of the distribution. The general structure and usage of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.dist-info</span></code> directories is described in <a class="reference internal" href="../recording-installed-packages/#recording-installed-packages"><span class="std std-ref">Recording installed projects</span></a>.</p> <section id="specification"> <h2>Specification<a class="headerlink" href="#specification" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> <p>The <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">direct_url.json</span></code> file MUST be created in the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.dist-info</span></code> directory by installers when installing a distribution from a requirement specifying a direct URL reference (including a VCS URL).</p> <p>This file MUST NOT be created when installing a distribution from an other type of requirement (i.e. name plus version specifier).</p> <p>This JSON file MUST be a UTF-8 encoded, <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8259.html"><strong>RFC 8259</strong></a> compliant, serialization of the <a class="reference internal" href="../direct-url-data-structure/"><span class="doc">Direct URL Data Structure</span></a>.</p> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="admonition-title">Note</p> <p>When the requested URL has the <a class="reference external" href="file://">file://</a> scheme and points to a local directory that happens to contain a VCS checkout, installers MUST NOT attempt to infer any VCS information and therefore MUST NOT output any VCS related information (such as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vcs_info</span></code>) in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">direct_url.json</span></code>.</p> </div> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="admonition-title">Note</p> <p>As a general rule, installers should as much as possible preserve the information that was provided in the requested URL when generating <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">direct_url.json</span></code>. For example user:password environment variables should be preserved and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">requested_revision</span></code> should reflect the revision that was provided in the requested URL as faithfully as possible. This information is however <em>enriched</em> with more precise data, such as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">commit_id</span></code>.</p> </div> </section> <section id="example-pip-commands-and-their-effect-on-direct-url-json"> <h2>Example pip commands and their effect on direct_url.json<a class="headerlink" href="#example-pip-commands-and-their-effect-on-direct-url-json" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> <p>Commands that generate a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">direct_url.json</span></code>:</p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">https://example.com/app-1.0.tgz</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">https://example.com/app-1.0.whl</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">"app</span> <span class="pre">@</span> <span class="pre">git+https://example.com/repo/app.git#subdirectory=setup"</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">./app</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">file:///home/user/app</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">--editable</span> <span class="pre">"app</span> <span class="pre">@</span> <span class="pre">git+https://example.com/repo/app.git#subdirectory=setup"</span></code> (in which case, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">url</span></code> will be the local directory where the git repository has been cloned to, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dir_info</span></code> will be present with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">"editable":</span> <span class="pre">true</span></code> and no <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vcs_info</span></code> will be set)</p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">-e</span> <span class="pre">./app</span></code></p></li> </ul> <p>Commands that <em>do not</em> generate a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">direct_url.json</span></code></p> <ul class="simple"> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">app</span></code></p></li> <li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pip</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">app</span> <span class="pre">--no-index</span> <span class="pre">--find-links</span> <span class="pre">https://example.com/</span></code></p></li> </ul> </section> <section id="history"> <h2>History<a class="headerlink" href="#history" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> <ul class="simple"> <li><p>March 2020: This specification was approved through <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0610/"><strong>PEP 610</strong></a>.</p></li> </ul> </section> </section> </article> </div> <footer> <div class="related-pages"> <a class="next-page" href="../direct-url-data-structure/"> <div class="page-info"> <div class="context"> <span>Next</span> </div> <div class="title">Direct URL Data Structure</div> </div> <svg class="furo-related-icon"><use href="#svg-arrow-right"></use></svg> </a> <a class="prev-page" href="../entry-points/"> <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">Entry points specification</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 Feb 19, 2025</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="#">Recording the Direct URL Origin of installed distributions</a><ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#specification">Specification</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#example-pip-commands-and-their-effect-on-direct-url-json">Example pip commands and their effect on direct_url.json</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#history">History</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=5fa4622c"></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>