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| 53 | <H1><A NAME="SECTION005000000000000000000"></A> |
| 54 | <A NAME="built-dist"></A> |
| 55 | <BR> |
| 56 | 5. Creating Built Distributions |
| 57 | </H1> |
| 58 | |
| 59 | <P> |
| 60 | A ``built distribution'' is what you're probably used to thinking of |
| 61 | either as a ``binary package'' or an ``installer'' (depending on your |
| 62 | background). It's not necessarily binary, though, because it might |
| 63 | contain only Python source code and/or byte-code; and we don't call it a |
| 64 | package, because that word is already spoken for in Python. (And |
| 65 | ``installer'' is a term specific to the world of mainstream desktop |
| 66 | systems.) |
| 67 | |
| 68 | <P> |
| 69 | A built distribution is how you make life as easy as possible for |
| 70 | installers of your module distribution: for users of RPM-based Linux |
| 71 | systems, it's a binary RPM; for Windows users, it's an executable |
| 72 | installer; for Debian-based Linux users, it's a Debian package; and so |
| 73 | forth. Obviously, no one person will be able to create built |
| 74 | distributions for every platform under the sun, so the Distutils are |
| 75 | designed to enable module developers to concentrate on their |
| 76 | specialty--writing code and creating source distributions--while an |
| 77 | intermediary species called <em>packagers</em> springs up to turn source |
| 78 | distributions into built distributions for as many platforms as there |
| 79 | are packagers. |
| 80 | |
| 81 | <P> |
| 82 | Of course, the module developer could be his own packager; or the |
| 83 | packager could be a volunteer ``out there'' somewhere who has access to |
| 84 | a platform which the original developer does not; or it could be |
| 85 | software periodically grabbing new source distributions and turning them |
| 86 | into built distributions for as many platforms as the software has |
| 87 | access to. Regardless of who they are, a packager uses the |
| 88 | setup script and the <code class="du-command">bdist</code> command family to generate built |
| 89 | distributions. |
| 90 | |
| 91 | <P> |
| 92 | As a simple example, if I run the following command in the Distutils |
| 93 | source tree: |
| 94 | |
| 95 | <P> |
| 96 | <div class="verbatim"><pre> |
| 97 | python setup.py bdist |
| 98 | </pre></div> |
| 99 | |
| 100 | <P> |
| 101 | then the Distutils builds my module distribution (the Distutils itself |
| 102 | in this case), does a ``fake'' installation (also in the <span class="file">build</span> |
| 103 | directory), and creates the default type of built distribution for my |
| 104 | platform. The default format for built distributions is a ``dumb'' tar |
| 105 | file on <span class="Unix">Unix</span>, and a simple executable installer on Windows. (That tar |
| 106 | file is considered ``dumb'' because it has to be unpacked in a specific |
| 107 | location to work.) |
| 108 | |
| 109 | <P> |
| 110 | Thus, the above command on a <span class="Unix">Unix</span> system creates |
| 111 | <span class="file">Distutils-1.0.<span class="du-filevar">plat</span>.tar.gz</span>; unpacking this tarball |
| 112 | from the right place installs the Distutils just as though you had |
| 113 | downloaded the source distribution and run <code>python setup.py |
| 114 | install</code>. (The ``right place'' is either the root of the filesystem or |
| 115 | Python's <span class="du-filevar">prefix</span> directory, depending on the options given to |
| 116 | the <code class="du-command">bdist_dumb</code> command; the default is to make dumb |
| 117 | distributions relative to <span class="du-filevar">prefix</span>.) |
| 118 | |
| 119 | <P> |
| 120 | Obviously, for pure Python distributions, this isn't any simpler than |
| 121 | just running <code>python setup.py install</code>--but for non-pure |
| 122 | distributions, which include extensions that would need to be |
| 123 | compiled, it can mean the difference between someone being able to use |
| 124 | your extensions or not. And creating ``smart'' built distributions, |
| 125 | such as an RPM package or an executable installer for Windows, is far |
| 126 | more convenient for users even if your distribution doesn't include |
| 127 | any extensions. |
| 128 | |
| 129 | <P> |
| 130 | The <code class="du-command">bdist</code> command has a <b class="programopt">--formats</b> option, |
| 131 | similar to the <code class="du-command">sdist</code> command, which you can use to select the |
| 132 | types of built distribution to generate: for example, |
| 133 | |
| 134 | <P> |
| 135 | <div class="verbatim"><pre> |
| 136 | python setup.py bdist --format=zip |
| 137 | </pre></div> |
| 138 | |
| 139 | <P> |
| 140 | would, when run on a <span class="Unix">Unix</span> system, create |
| 141 | <span class="file">Distutils-1.0.<span class="du-filevar">plat</span>.zip</span>--again, this archive would be |
| 142 | unpacked from the root directory to install the Distutils. |
| 143 | |
| 144 | <P> |
| 145 | The available formats for built distributions are: |
| 146 | |
| 147 | <P> |
| 148 | <div class="center"><table class="realtable"> |
| 149 | <thead> |
| 150 | <tr> |
| 151 | <th class="left" >Format</th> |
| 152 | <th class="left" >Description</th> |
| 153 | <th class="center">Notes</th> |
| 154 | </tr> |
| 155 | </thead> |
| 156 | <tbody> |
| 157 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>gztar</code></td> |
| 158 | <td class="left" >gzipped tar file (<span class="file">.tar.gz</span>)</td> |
| 159 | <td class="center">(1),(3)</td></tr> |
| 160 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>ztar</code></td> |
| 161 | <td class="left" >compressed tar file (<span class="file">.tar.Z</span>)</td> |
| 162 | <td class="center">(3)</td></tr> |
| 163 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>tar</code></td> |
| 164 | <td class="left" >tar file (<span class="file">.tar</span>)</td> |
| 165 | <td class="center">(3)</td></tr> |
| 166 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>zip</code></td> |
| 167 | <td class="left" >zip file (<span class="file">.zip</span>)</td> |
| 168 | <td class="center">(4)</td></tr> |
| 169 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>rpm</code></td> |
| 170 | <td class="left" >RPM</td> |
| 171 | <td class="center">(5)</td></tr> |
| 172 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>pkgtool</code></td> |
| 173 | <td class="left" >Solaris <b class="program">pkgtool</b></td> |
| 174 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 175 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>sdux</code></td> |
| 176 | <td class="left" >HP-UX <b class="program">swinstall</b></td> |
| 177 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 178 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>rpm</code></td> |
| 179 | <td class="left" >RPM</td> |
| 180 | <td class="center">(5)</td></tr> |
| 181 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>wininst</code></td> |
| 182 | <td class="left" >self-extracting ZIP file for Windows</td> |
| 183 | <td class="center">(2),(4)</td></tr></tbody> |
| 184 | </table></div> |
| 185 | |
| 186 | <P> |
| 187 | Notes: |
| 188 | <DL> |
| 189 | <DT><STRONG>(1)</STRONG></DT> |
| 190 | <DD>default on <span class="Unix">Unix</span> |
| 191 | </DD> |
| 192 | <DT><STRONG>(2)</STRONG></DT> |
| 193 | <DD>default on Windows <b class="du-xxx">to-do!</b> |
| 194 | </DD> |
| 195 | <DT><STRONG>(3)</STRONG></DT> |
| 196 | <DD>requires external utilities: <b class="program">tar</b> and possibly one |
| 197 | of <b class="program">gzip</b>, <b class="program">bzip2</b>, or <b class="program">compress</b> |
| 198 | </DD> |
| 199 | <DT><STRONG>(4)</STRONG></DT> |
| 200 | <DD>requires either external <b class="program">zip</b> utility or |
| 201 | <tt class="module">zipfile</tt> module (part of the standard Python library since |
| 202 | Python 1.6) |
| 203 | </DD> |
| 204 | <DT><STRONG>(5)</STRONG></DT> |
| 205 | <DD>requires external <b class="program">rpm</b> utility, version 3.0.4 or |
| 206 | better (use <code>rpm --version</code> to find out which version you have) |
| 207 | </DD> |
| 208 | </DL> |
| 209 | |
| 210 | <P> |
| 211 | You don't have to use the <code class="du-command">bdist</code> command with the |
| 212 | <b class="programopt">--formats</b> option; you can also use the command that |
| 213 | directly implements the format you're interested in. Some of these |
| 214 | <code class="du-command">bdist</code> ``sub-commands'' actually generate several similar |
| 215 | formats; for instance, the <code class="du-command">bdist_dumb</code> command generates all |
| 216 | the ``dumb'' archive formats (<code>tar</code>, <code>ztar</code>, <code>gztar</code>, and |
| 217 | <code>zip</code>), and <code class="du-command">bdist_rpm</code> generates both binary and source |
| 218 | RPMs. The <code class="du-command">bdist</code> sub-commands, and the formats generated by |
| 219 | each, are: |
| 220 | |
| 221 | <P> |
| 222 | <div class="center"><table class="realtable"> |
| 223 | <thead> |
| 224 | <tr> |
| 225 | <th class="left" >Command</th> |
| 226 | <th class="left" >Formats</th> |
| 227 | </tr> |
| 228 | </thead> |
| 229 | <tbody> |
| 230 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>bdist_dumb</code></td> |
| 231 | <td class="left" >tar, ztar, gztar, zip</td></tr> |
| 232 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>bdist_rpm</code></td> |
| 233 | <td class="left" >rpm, srpm</td></tr> |
| 234 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>bdist_wininst</code></td> |
| 235 | <td class="left" >wininst</td></tr></tbody> |
| 236 | </table></div> |
| 237 | |
| 238 | <P> |
| 239 | The following sections give details on the individual <code class="du-command">bdist_*</code> |
| 240 | commands. |
| 241 | |
| 242 | <P> |
| 243 | |
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| 250 | <LI><A href="creating-dumb.html">5.1 Creating dumb built distributions</a> |
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| 252 | <LI><A href="postinstallation-script.html">5.3 Creating Windows Installers</a> |
| 253 | <UL> |
| 254 | <LI><A href="postinstallation-script.html#SECTION005310000000000000000">5.3.1 The Postinstallation script</a> |
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