This script allows to generate RPM spec or DEB dsc files from Python modules. It allows to list Python modules or search for them on the Python Package Index (PyPI). Conveniently, it can fetch tarballs and changelogs making it an universal tool to package Python modules.

To install py2pack from the Python Package Index, simply:

$ pip install py2pack

Or, if you absolutely must:

$ easy_install py2pack

But, you really shouldn't do that. Lastly, you can check your distro of choice if they provide packages. For openSUSE, you can find packages in the Open Build Service for all releases. If you happen to use openSUSE:Factory (the rolling release / development version), simply:

$ sudo zypper install python-py2pack

Lets suppose you want to package zope.interface and you don't know how it is named exactly. First of all, you can search for it and download the source tarball if you found the correct module:

$ py2pack search zope.interface
searching for module zope.interface...
found zope.interface-3.6.1
$ py2pack fetch zope.interface
downloading package zope.interface-3.6.1...
from http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/z/zope.interface/zope.interface-3.6.1.tar.gz

As a next step you may want to generate a package recipe for your distribution. For RPM-based distributions (let's use openSUSE as an example), you want to generate a spec file (named 'python-zope.interface.spec'):

$ py2pack generate zope.interface -t opensuse.spec -f python-zope.interface.spec

The source tarball and the package recipe is all you need to generate the RPM (or DEB) file. This final step may depend on which distribution you use. Again, for openSUSE (and by using the Open Build Service), the complete recipe is:

$ osc mkpac python-zope.interface
$ cd python-zope.interface
$ py2pack fetch zope.interface
$ py2pack generate zope.interface -f python-zope.interface.spec
$ osc build
...

Depending on the module, you may have to adapt the resulting spec file slightly. To get further help about py2pack usage, issue the following command:

$ py2pack help

You can test py2pack from your git checkout by executing the py2pack module:

$ python -m py2pack

Fork the repository on Github to start making your changes to the master branch (or branch off of it). Don't forget to write a test for fixed issues or implemented features whenever appropriate. You can invoke the testsuite from the repository root directory via:

$ python setup.py test

Or by running nose directly:

$ nosetests

Both assume you have the test dependencies installed (available on PYTHONPATH) on your system. If that doesn't work for you, you can create a virtual environment instead:

$ virtualenv .venv
$ source .venv/bin/activate
(.venv)$ pip install -r test-requirements.txt
(.venv)$ nosetests

Lastly, if using virtualenv is too tedious or you want to test different configurations (py27, py33, pep8), you can also use tox:

$ tox

copyright

3. 2013 Sascha Peilicke.

license

GPLv2, see LICENSE for more details.