index.rst

Building and Distributing Packages with Setuptools

The first step towards sharing a Python library or program is to build a distribution package¹. This includes adding a set of additional files containing metadata and configuration to not only instruct setuptools on how the distribution should be built but also to help installer (such as pip) during the installation process.

This document contains information to help Python developers through this process. Please check the /userguide/quickstart for an overview of the workflow.

Also note that setuptools is what is know in the community as build backend <517#terminology-and-goals>, user facing interfaces are provided by tools such as pip and build. To use setuptools, one must explicitly create a pyproject.toml file as described /build_meta.

Contents

quickstart package_discovery entry_point dependency_management datafiles development_mode distribution extension declarative_config pyproject_config miscellaneous

---

Notes

---

1. A Distribution Package is also referred in the Python community simply as "package" Unfortunately, this jargon might be a bit confusing for new users because the term package can also to refer any directory <package> (or sub directory) used to organize modules <module> and auxiliary files.↩