Re: Should an sdist/MANIFEST.in include docs and tests?

Segev Finer <[email protected]> writes:

> What should really be included in an sdist via MANIFEST.in?

The ‘sdist’ name is derived from “source distribution (of this Python
package/distribution)”. It is of practical benefit to treat it as “the
state of the source needed for developing this Python distribution, as
of this release”.

The release of a Python distribution (e.g. ‘sampleproject’) marks a
snapshot of the source code at a point in time. The source code as of
that specific release is beneficial for some recipients, in order to be
able to make changes and build a modified complete distribution from
that.

> A package's source tree, more often than not, includes other files such as
> documentation, tests, examples, a random assortment of other text files,
> etc. Should docs & tests, in particular, be included in an sdist via
> MANIFEST.in? Should other files be added too?

Yes, all those should be in the source distribution. PyPI is a good,
stable over time, and easily-discovered repository of these source
distributions.

The source distribution (‘sdist’) should reflect the state of the source
code – all of it – that a recipient might need for making modifications,
testing them, updating documentation, etc. based on that specific
release, by version, sourced from the same location that has the wheels
or other ‘bdists’.

> Or maybe the sdist should be kept to a minimum?

For a minimal installable, we already have the ‘wheel’ format. I don't
think ‘sdist’ needs to be kept minimal, when it is more useful as a
snapshot of the source for a distribution.

> This is not clearly discussed in the packaging guide:
> https://packaging.python.org/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools/#manifest-in.
> The sampleproject (https://github.com/pypa/sampleproject) does seem to
> include tests (Well a no-op test) and doesn't include them in the
> sdist.

Yes, I would like the packaging guide to reflect what I described above.

-- 
 \       “Repetition leads to boredom, boredom to horrifying mistakes, |
  `\       horrifying mistakes to God-I-wish-I-was-still-bored, and it |
_o__)              goes downhill from there.” —Will Larson, 2008-11-04 |
Ben Finney
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