4 Handling package dependencies, entry points, and extensions

You’re just getting ready to start adding your groundbreaking functionality into your Python package for CarCorp when they call with a few last-minute requests. They want you to make sure it’s really fast and that it can be run as a standalone command because their developers aren’t as well-versed in Python as you are. You haven’t even delivered the first version of your package yet, and already the requirements are growing! Before you panic, take a deep breath and read this chapter to learn more.

4.1 A package for calculating vehicle drift

Imagine that the software you’ve been working on for CarCorp will help them guide their vehicles on the road. During their testing they’ve observed that the vehicles tend to drift around the road more than they’d like, and they’ve started measuring the drift. Although they have the raw data, they don’t have a great way of measuring the impact of any potential improvements they make.

4.2 Creating a C extension for Python

4.2.1 Creating C extension source code

4.2.2 Integrating Cython into a Python package build

4.2.3 Installing and profiling your C extension

4.2.4 Build targets for binary wheel distributions

4.2.5 Specifying required Python versions

4.3 Offering command-line tools from a Python package

4.3.1 Creating commands with Setuptools entry points

4.4 Specifying dependencies for Python packages

Answer to exercises

Summary