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Python Packaging User Guide
Python Packaging User Guide
  • Overview of Python Packaging
  • The Packaging Flow
  • Tutorials
    • Installing Packages
    • Managing Application Dependencies
    • Packaging Python Projects
  • Guides
    • Installation
      • Install packages in a virtual environment using pip and venv
      • Installing packages using virtualenv
      • Installing stand alone command line tools
      • Installing pip/setuptools/wheel with Linux Package Managers
      • Installing scientific packages
    • Building and Publishing
      • Writing your pyproject.toml
      • Packaging and distributing projects
      • Dropping support for older Python versions
      • Packaging binary extensions
      • Packaging namespace packages
      • Creating and packaging command-line tools
      • Creating and discovering plugins
      • Using TestPyPI
      • Making a PyPI-friendly README
      • Publishing package distribution releases using GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows
      • How to modernize a setup.py based project?
      • Licensing examples and user scenarios
    • Hosting
      • Package index mirrors and caches
      • Hosting your own simple repository
    • Tool recommendations
    • Analyzing PyPI package downloads
  • Discussions
    • Versioning
    • Deploying Python applications
    • pip vs easy_install
    • install_requires vs requirements files
    • Distribution package vs. import package
    • Package Formats
    • src layout vs flat layout
    • Is setup.py deprecated?
    • Single-sourcing the Project Version
    • Supporting downstream packaging
  • PyPA specifications
    • Package Distribution Metadata
      • Names and normalization
      • Core metadata specifications
      • Version specifiers
      • Dependency specifiers
      • pyproject.toml specification
      • Dependency Groups
      • Inline script metadata
      • Platform compatibility tags
      • Well-known Project URLs in Metadata
      • glob patterns
      • License Expression
    • Package Installation Metadata
      • Recording installed projects
      • Entry points specification
      • Recording the Direct URL Origin of installed distributions
      • Direct URL Data Structure
      • Python Virtual Environments
      • Externally Managed Environments
    • Package Distribution File Formats
      • Source distribution format
      • Binary distribution format
    • Package Index Interfaces
      • The .pypirc file
      • Simple repository API
      • File Yanking
      • Index hosted attestations
      • Project Status Markers
    • Python Description Formats
      • build-details.json
        • v1.0
    • Reproducible Environments
      • pylock.toml Specification
    • PyPA schemas
  • Project Summaries
  • Glossary
  • How to Get Support
  • Contribute to this guide
  • News
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Package Distribution File Formats¶

  • Source distribution format
  • Binary distribution format
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Source distribution format
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Externally Managed Environments
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Last updated on Oct 27, 2026