How should I structure a Python package that contains Cython code

Question

I\'d like to make a Python package containing some Cython code. I\'ve got the the Cython code working nicely. However, now I want to know how best to package it.

For

Answer 1

The easiest is to include both but just use the c-file? Including the .pyx file is nice, but it's not needed once you have the .c file anyway. People who want to recompile the .pyx can install Pyrex and do it manually.

Otherwise you need to have a custom build_ext command for distutils that builds the C file first. Cython already includes one. http://docs.cython.org/src/userguide/source_files_and_compilation.html

What that documentation doesn't do is say how to make this conditional, but

try:
     from Cython.distutils import build_ext
except ImportError:
     from distutils.command import build_ext

Should handle it.