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Buildthings is a Python build backend that extends Setuptools with features needed for more advanced, interconnected applications, featuring:

• Editable installs using local source trees as dependencies
• Custom build steps for editable installs, source distributions, and wheels.
• Dynamic install-time and development-time dependency lists codified in Python.
• Built-in support for NPM-based build steps and embedded package.json files.

This is built by Beanbag to help us build complex, production-ready software, including:

• Review Board - Extensible open source code and document review, one of the founders of the code review space
• Djblets - Django production power tools

Buildthings is based on Setuptools, so all your existing Setuptools settings will continue to work.

To switch to Buildthings, place the following at the top of your pyproject.toml:

[build-system]
requires = ['buildthings']
build-backend = 'buildthings.backend'

That's it! Now comes the cool part.

All buildthings settings live under [tool.buildthings] in your pyproject.toml.

A list of keys whose values should be loaded dynamically at build time via one of:

• attr: (evaluated Python attribute/expression)
• file: (read from a text file).

Unless otherwise specified, all buildthings-specific configuration keys may be dynamic.

Example:

[tool.buildthings]
dynamic = ["dependencies", "dev-dependencies"]

dependencies = {attr = "mypackage.dependencies.install_requires"}
dev-dependencies = {file = "dev-requirements.txt"}

A list of Python packages to install at install time.

This should be used instead of project.dependencies.

Dependencies can also be installed in the isolated build environments using: tool.buildthings.isolation.include-install-deps or tool.buildthings.isolation.<build_type>.include-install-deps. See Isolated Build Environments below.

Overridden by:

• tool.buildthings.editable.dependencies
• tool.buildthings.sdist.dependencies
• tool.buildthings.wheel.dependencies

Default: The contents of requirements.txt will be read, if present.

Examples:

[tool.buildthings]
dependencies = [
    "housekeeping",
    "typelets",
]

You can also load this dynamically using attr: (a Python attribute path) or file: (a text file):

[tool.buildthings]
dynamic = ["dependencies"]
dependencies = {attr = "mypackage.dependencies.install_requires"}

or:

[tool.buildthings]
dynamic = ["dependencies"]
dependencies = {file = "requirements.txt"}

or, for an editable-specific configuration (as an example):

[tool.buildthings.editable]
dependencies = ["kgb"]

A list of Python package dependencies to exclude from the package.

This is primarily intended to remove a dependency from an editable install, to help create a more lean editable environment.

This will also affect the isolated build environment for that type. If you want to keep a dependency for the build type and only exclude it from the isolated build environment, use tool.buildthings.isolation.<build_type>.exclude-deps instead.

Values may be full version specifiers, "extras" packages, or just plain package names.

Default: []

Example:

[tool.buildthings.editable]
exclude-deps = ['mysqldb']

A list of additional development-focused Python packages that an editable install should depend on.

These will not be used when building a Python wheel or source distribution. They're a handy way of ensuring that an editable install has any optional dependencies that may be needed while working on the codebase.

Development dependencies can also be installed in the isolated build environments using: tool.buildthings.isolation.include-dev-deps or tool.buildthings.isolation.<build_type>.include-dev-deps. See Isolated Build Environments below.

Default: The contents of dev-requirements.txt will be read, if present.

Examples:

[tool.buildthings]
dev-dependencies = [
    "kgb",
    "pytest",
    "sphinx",
]

Like dependencies, this can be loaded dynamically:

[tool.buildthings]
dynamic = ["dev-dependencies"]
dev-dependencies = {attr = "mypackage.dependencies.dev_requires"}

or:

[tool.buildthings]
dynamic = ["dev-dependencies"]
dev-dependencies = {file = "dev-requirements.txt"}

Python packages are built in isolated build environments. This usually requires that all dependencies are available either from PyPI or in a subdirectory.

Buildthings gives you control of this build environment by letting you include development or install-time package dependencies automatically as build-time dependencies, and by allowing you to point to local development trees to supply any in-progres dependencies.

Defaults for all build types can be set in tool.buildthings.isolation, and overridden for each build type:

• tool.buildthings.isolation.editable
• tool.buildthings.isolation.sdist
• tool.buildthings.isolation.wheel

The path to a directory containing symlinks to local development packages needed for editable installs (including when this package is an editable dependency of another).

Symlinks placed here point to the source trees of packages you are developing locally, so that they will be used instead of attempting to find the package in PyPI.

By default, this is only used for editable builds for a couple reasons:

1. Public builds must never depend on non-public packages.
2. When building packages using python -m build, the wheel is generated from the source distribution, which won't contain your .local-packages.

If you need to use local packages for testing (such as making sure you can generate and install packages before all your source trees go live), do the following:

1. Set local-packages-path to .local-packages (or another path).

2. Manually build sdists and wheels separately:

   $ python -m build --sdist .
   $ python -m build --wheel .

   This will ensure the wheel is built from your local tree and not the source distribution.

Overridden by:

• tool.buildthings.isolation.editable.local-packages-path
• tool.buildthings.isolation.sdist.local-packages-path
• tool.buildthings.isolation.wheel.local-packages-path

Defaults:

• editable: .local-packages
• sdist: None
• wheel: None

Examples:

[tool.buildthings.isolation]
local-packages-path = ".prod-local-packages"

[tool.buildthings.isolation.editable]
local-packages-path = ".editable-local-packages"

When true, development dependencies (from tool.buildthings.dev-dependencies or dev-requirements.txt) will be installed into the isolated build environment.

This may be needed if you're using extra build steps.

Overridden by:

• tool.buildthings.isolation.editable.include-dev-deps
• tool.buildthings.isolation.sdist.include-dev-deps
• tool.buildthings.isolation.wheel.include-dev-deps

Defaults:

• editable: false
• sdist: false
• wheel: false

Examples:

[tool.buildthings.isolation.editable]
include-dev-deps = true

When true, install-time dependencies (from tool.buildthings.dependencies or requirements.txt) will be installed into the isolated build environment.

This may be needed if you're using extra build steps.

Defaults to false.

Overridden by:

• tool.buildthings.isolation.editable.include-install-deps
• tool.buildthings.isolation.sdist.include-install-deps
• tool.buildthings.isolation.wheel.include-install-deps

Defaults:

• editable: false
• sdist: false
• wheel: false

Examples:

[tool.buildthings.isolation]
include-install-deps = true

[tool.buildthings.isolation.editable]
include-install-deps = false

A list of package names to exclude from the editable isolated build environment's final list of dependencies.

This will filter out any depenencies that appear from using tool.buildthings.editable.isolation.include-dev-deps or tool.buildthings.editable.isolation.include-install-deps.

Values may be full version specifiers, "extras" packages, or just plain package names.

Overridden by:

• tool.buildthings.isolation.editable.exclude-deps
• tool.buildthings.isolation.sdist.exclude-deps
• tool.buildthings.isolation.wheel.exclude-deps

Defaults:

• editable: []
• sdist: []
• wheel: []

Examples:

[tool.buildthings.isolation.editable]
exclude-deps = [
    "mysqldb",
]

Build steps let you run arbitrary shell commands as part of the build process. They will run after buildthings's own steps are run, and before the editable environment is set up or files are collected for a package.

Each step is either a plain command string or a table with a command key and an optional label key:

extra-build-steps = [
    "./scripts/do-things.sh",
    {command = "npm run build", label = "Building frontend assets"},
]

The special placeholder {python} is replaced at runtime with the path to the Python interpreter used for the build:

extra-build-steps = [
    "{python} manage.py collectstatic --noinput",
]

You may also specify these in their own array-like subsections:

[[tool.buildthings.sdist.extra-build-steps]]
label = "Do things"
command = "./scripts/do-things.sh"

[[tool.buildthings.sdist.extra-build-steps]]
label = "Do more things"
command = "./scripts/do-more-things.sh"

Build steps run in an editable install. Use this for steps that should help set up an editable environment (such as bootstrapping an SQLite database or generating a settings file).

Example:

[tool.buildthings.editable]
extra-build-steps = [
    "./scripts/setup-environment.sh",
]

Build steps run when creating a source distribution (sdist).

Example:

[tool.buildthings.sdist]
extra-build-steps = [
    "pytest",
]

Build steps run when building a wheel.

Example:

[tool.buildthings.wheel]
extra-build-steps = [
    {command = "npm run build", label = "Building frontend assets"},
]

Each build type supports its own custom NPM configuration:

• tool.buildthings.editable.npm
• tool.buildthings.sdist.npm
• tool.buildthings.wheel.npm

Set to true to install NPM packages and workspaces for this build.

When enabled, buildthings can manage NPM workspaces that expose Python packages as NPM-compatible modules, and will run npm install for you.

Default: false

Example:

[tool.buildthings.editable.npm]
install = true

A list of Python package names to expose as NPM workspaces.

For each entry, buildthings creates a symlink under .npm-workspaces/ that points to the Python module so that NPM can resolve the package alongside your JavaScript dependencies. Each module should include a package.json within it.

To use this, set the following in the package.json in the root of your source tree:

{
    "workspaces": [
        ".npm-workspaces/*"
    ]
}

Example:

[tool.buildthings.editable.npm]
install = true
python-modules = [
    "djblets",
    "myproduct_frontend",
]

• Review Board - Our dedicated open source code review product for teams of all sizes.
• Housekeeping - Deprecation management for Python modules, classes, functions, and attributes.
• kgb - A powerful function spy implementation to help write Python unit tests.
• Registries - A flexible, typed implementation of the Registry Pattern for more maintainable and extensible codebases.
• Typelets - Type hints and utility objects for Python and Django projects.

You can see more on github.com/beanbaginc and github.com/reviewboard.