|
| 1 | +Installing and using packages |
| 2 | +============================= |
| 3 | + |
| 4 | +This tutorial walks you through installing and using Python packages. It will |
| 5 | +show you how to install and use the necessary tools and make strong |
| 6 | +recommendations on best practices. Keep in mind that Python is used for a great |
| 7 | +many different purposes, and precisely how you want to manage your dependencies |
| 8 | +may change based on how you decide to publish your software. The guidance |
| 9 | +presented here is most directly applicable to the development and deployment of |
| 10 | +network services (including web applications), but is also very well suited to |
| 11 | +managing development and testing environments for any kind of project. |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +.. Note:: This guide is written for Python 3, however, these instructions |
| 14 | + should work fine on Python 2.7. |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +Make sure you've got Python & pip |
| 18 | +--------------------------------- |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +Before you go any further, make sure you have Python and that it's avalable |
| 21 | +from your command line. You can check this by simply running: |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +.. code-block:: bash |
| 24 | +
|
| 25 | + python --version |
| 26 | +
|
| 27 | +You should get some output like ``3.6.2``. If you do not have Python, please |
| 28 | +install the latest 3.x version from `python.org`_ or refer to the |
| 29 | +`Installing Python`_ section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to Python. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +.. Note:: If you're a newcomer and you get an error like this: |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | + .. code-block:: python |
| 34 | +
|
| 35 | + >>> python |
| 36 | + Traceback (most recent call last): |
| 37 | + File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> |
| 38 | + NameError: name 'python' is not defined |
| 39 | +
|
| 40 | + It's because this command and other suggested commands in this tutorial |
| 41 | + are intended to be run in a *shell* (also called a *terminal* or |
| 42 | + *console*). See the Python for Beginners `getting started tutorial`_ for |
| 43 | + an introduction to using your operating system's shell and interacting with |
| 44 | + Python. |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +Additionally, you'll need to make sure you have :ref:`pip` available. You can |
| 47 | +check this by running: |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +.. code-block:: bash |
| 50 | +
|
| 51 | + pip --version |
| 52 | +
|
| 53 | +If you installed Python from source, with an installer from `python.org`_, or |
| 54 | +via `Homebrew`_ you should already have pip. If you're on Linux and installed |
| 55 | +using your OS package manager, you may have to install pip separately, see |
| 56 | +:doc:`/guides/installing-using-linux-tools`. |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +.. _getting started tutorial: https://opentechschool.github.io/python-beginners/en/getting_started.html#what-is-python-exactly |
| 59 | +.. _python.org: https://python.org |
| 60 | +.. _Homebrew: https://brew.sh |
| 61 | +.. _Installing Python: http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/starting/installation/ |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | +Installing Pipenv |
| 65 | +----------------- |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | +:ref:`Pipenv` is a dependency manager for Python projects. If you're familiar |
| 68 | +with Node.js' `npm`_ or Ruby's `bundler`_, it is similar in spirit to those |
| 69 | +tools. While :ref:`pip` can install Python packages, Pipenv is recommended as |
| 70 | +it's a higher-level tool that simplifies dependency management for common use |
| 71 | +cases. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +Use ``pip`` to install Pipenv: |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +.. code-block:: python |
| 76 | +
|
| 77 | + pip install --user pipenv |
| 78 | +
|
| 79 | +
|
| 80 | +.. Note:: This does a `user installation`_ to prevent breaking any system-wide |
| 81 | + packages. If ``pipenv`` isn't available in your shell after installation, |
| 82 | + you'll need to add the `user base`_'s ``bin`` directory to your ``PATH``. |
| 83 | + You can find the user base by running ``python -m site`` which will print |
| 84 | + site information including the user base. For example, on Linux this will |
| 85 | + return ``USER_BASE: '~/.local'`` so you'll need to add ``~/.local/bin`` to |
| 86 | + your ``PATH``. On Linux and macOS you can set your ``PATH`` permanently |
| 87 | + by `modifying ~/.profile`_. On Windows you can set the user |
| 88 | + ``PATH`` permanently in the `Control Panel`_. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +.. _npm: https://www.npmjs.com/ |
| 91 | +.. _bundler: http://bundler.io/ |
| 92 | +.. _user base: https://docs.python.org/3/library/site.html#site.USER_BASE |
| 93 | +.. _user installation: https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/user_guide/#user-installs |
| 94 | +.. _modifying ~/.profile: https://stackoverflow.com/a/14638025 |
| 95 | +.. _Control Panel: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb776899(v=vs.85).aspx |
| 96 | + |
| 97 | +Installing packages for your project |
| 98 | +------------------------------------ |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | +Pipenv manages dependencies on a per-project basis. To install packages, |
| 101 | +change into your project's directory (or just an empty directory for this |
| 102 | +tutorial) and run: |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +.. code-block:: bash |
| 105 | +
|
| 106 | + cd myproject |
| 107 | + pipenv install requests |
| 108 | +
|
| 109 | +Pipenv will install the excellent `Requests`_ library and create a ``Pipfile`` |
| 110 | +for you in your project's directory. The :ref:`Pipfile` is used to track which |
| 111 | +dependencies your project needs in case you need to re-install them, such as |
| 112 | +when you share your project with others. You should get output similar to this |
| 113 | +(although the exact paths shown will vary): |
| 114 | + |
| 115 | +.. code-block:: text |
| 116 | +
|
| 117 | + Creating a Pipfile for this project... |
| 118 | + Creating a virtualenv for this project... |
| 119 | + Using base prefix '/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.6.2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6' |
| 120 | + New python executable in ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/tmp-agwWamBd/bin/python3.6 |
| 121 | + Also creating executable in ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/tmp-agwWamBd/bin/python |
| 122 | + Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...done. |
| 123 | +
|
| 124 | + Virtualenv location: ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/tmp-agwWamBd |
| 125 | + Installing requests... |
| 126 | + Collecting requests |
| 127 | + Using cached requests-2.18.4-py2.py3-none-any.whl |
| 128 | + Collecting idna<2.7,>=2.5 (from requests) |
| 129 | + Using cached idna-2.6-py2.py3-none-any.whl |
| 130 | + Collecting urllib3<1.23,>=1.21.1 (from requests) |
| 131 | + Using cached urllib3-1.22-py2.py3-none-any.whl |
| 132 | + Collecting chardet<3.1.0,>=3.0.2 (from requests) |
| 133 | + Using cached chardet-3.0.4-py2.py3-none-any.whl |
| 134 | + Collecting certifi>=2017.4.17 (from requests) |
| 135 | + Using cached certifi-2017.7.27.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl |
| 136 | + Installing collected packages: idna, urllib3, chardet, certifi, requests |
| 137 | + Successfully installed certifi-2017.7.27.1 chardet-3.0.4 idna-2.6 requests-2.18.4 urllib3-1.22 |
| 138 | +
|
| 139 | + Adding requests to Pipfile's [packages]... |
| 140 | + P.S. You have excellent taste! ✨ 🍰 ✨ |
| 141 | +
|
| 142 | +.. _Requests: https://python-requests.org |
| 143 | + |
| 144 | + |
| 145 | +Using installed packages |
| 146 | +------------------------ |
| 147 | + |
| 148 | +Now that Requests is installed you can create a simple ``main.py`` file to |
| 149 | +use it: |
| 150 | + |
| 151 | +.. code-block:: python |
| 152 | +
|
| 153 | + import requests |
| 154 | +
|
| 155 | + response = requests.get('https://httpbin.org/ip') |
| 156 | +
|
| 157 | + print('Your IP is {0}'.format(response.json['origin'])) |
| 158 | +
|
| 159 | +Then you can run this script using ``pipenv run``: |
| 160 | + |
| 161 | +.. code-block:: bash |
| 162 | +
|
| 163 | + pipenv run python main.py |
| 164 | +
|
| 165 | +You should get output similar to this: |
| 166 | + |
| 167 | +.. code-block:: text |
| 168 | +
|
| 169 | + Your IP is 8.8.8.8 |
| 170 | +
|
| 171 | +Using ``pipenv run`` ensures that your installed packages are available to |
| 172 | +your script. It's also possible to spawn a new shell that ensures all commands |
| 173 | +have access to your installed packages with ``pipenv shell``. |
| 174 | + |
| 175 | + |
| 176 | +Next steps |
| 177 | +---------- |
| 178 | + |
| 179 | +Congratulations, you now know how to install and use Python packages! ✨ 🍰 ✨ |
| 180 | + |
| 181 | +There's more resources you can look at to learn about installing and using |
| 182 | +Python packages: |
| 183 | + |
| 184 | +.. TODO:: Link to additional guides and resources. |
| 185 | + |
| 186 | +If you find this approach isn't working well for you or your use case, you may |
| 187 | +want to explore these other approaches: |
| 188 | + |
| 189 | +.. TODO:: Link to alternatives |
| 190 | + |
| 191 | +If you're interesting in creating and distributing Python packages, see the |
| 192 | +tutorial on packaging and distributing packages. |
| 193 | + |
| 194 | +.. TODO:: Link to packaging tutorial when it exists. |
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