Reusable apps
First, create a parent directory for polls, outside of your Django project. Call this directory django-polls.
Move the polls directory into the django-polls directory.
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Create a file django-polls/README.rst with the following contents
# django-polls/README.rst ===== Polls ===== Polls is a simple Django app to conduct Web-based polls. For each question, visitors can choose between a fixed number of answers. Detailed documentation is in the "docs" directory. Quick start ----------- 1. Add "polls" to your INSTALLED_APPS setting like this:: INSTALLED_APPS = [ ... 'polls', ] 2. Include the polls URLconf in your project urls.py like this:: path('polls/', include('polls.urls')), 3. Run `python manage.py migrate` to create the polls models. 4. Start the development server and visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/ to create a poll (you'll need the Admin app enabled). 5. Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/polls/ to participate in the poll. Create a django-polls/LICENSE file. Choosing a license is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but suffice it to say that code released publicly without a license is useless. Django and many Django-compatible apps are distributed under the BSD license; however, you’re free to pick your own license. Just be aware that your licensing choice will affect who is able to use your code.
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Next we’ll create a setup.py file which provides details about how to build and install the app. A full explanation of this file is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but the setuptools docs have a good explanation. Create a file django-polls/setup.py with the following contents:
# django-polls/setup.py import os from setuptools import find_packages, setup with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'README.rst')) as readme: README = readme.read() # allow setup.py to be run from any path os.chdir(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(__file__), os.pardir))) setup( name='django-polls', version='0.1', packages=find_packages(), include_package_data=True, license='BSD License', # example license description='A simple Django app to conduct Web-based polls.', long_description=README, url='https://www.example.com/', author='Your Name', author_email='yourname@example.com', classifiers=[ 'Environment :: Web Environment', 'Framework :: Django', 'Framework :: Django :: X.Y', # replace "X.Y" as appropriate 'Intended Audience :: Developers', 'License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License', # example license 'Operating System :: OS Independent', 'Programming Language :: Python', 'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.5', 'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6', 'Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP', 'Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Dynamic Content', ], ) -
Only Python modules and packages are included in the package by default. To include additional files, we’ll need to create a MANIFEST.in file. The setuptools docs referred to in the previous step discuss this file in more details. To include the templates, the README.rst and our LICENSE file, create a file django-polls/MANIFEST.in with the following contents
django-polls/MANIFEST.in include LICENSE include README.rst recursive-include polls/static * recursive-include polls/templates * -
It’s optional, but recommended, to include detailed documentation with your app. Create an empty directory django-polls/docs for future documentation. Add an additional line to django-polls/MANIFEST.in:
recursive-include docs * Try building your package with python setup.py sdist (run from inside django-polls). This creates a directory called dist and builds your new package, django-polls-0.1.tar.gz.
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Using your own package
$ pip install --user django-polls/dist/django-polls-0.1.tar.gz $ pip uninstall django-polls Publishing your app
- Email the package to a friend.
- Upload the package on your website.
- Post the package on a public repository, such as the Python Package Index (PyPI). packaging.python.org has a good tutorial for doing this.
