Is it possible to include subdirectories using dist utils (setup.py) as part of package data?

Question

Basically my python package is setup like:

module
\\_examples
  \\_folder1
     \\_file1.py
     \\_file2.py
  \\_folder2
    \\_file1.py
    \\_file2.py
         


        

Answer 1

Introduction

I came across this post and spent some time figuring out how to add specific sub-modules to my package, so I will post my solution here.

Solution

In my package root folder, I have a setup.py file see doc
In this file, I have the following code:

from setuptools import setup

with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
    long_description = fh.read()

setup(
    name='package name',
    version='0.4.1',
    description='short description',
    long_description=long_description,
    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
    url='repository url',
    author='My name',
    author_email='my@e.mail',
    license='MIT',
    packages=['PackageName','PackageName.SubModule'],
    zip_safe=False,
    install_requires=[
        'dependecy1',
    ],
    classifiers=[
        'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha',
        'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7'
    ]
)

The interesting part to answer the question, here is : packages=['PackageName','PackageName.SubModule'],

By following this syntax, you can include sub-modules to your main package distribution.

More info about all the others arguments can be found in the doc.