nixpkgs/doc/languages-frameworks/python.xml

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<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xml:id="sec-python">
<title>Python</title>
<para>
Currently supported interpreters are <varname>python26</varname>, <varname>python27</varname>,
<varname>python33</varname>, <varname>python34</varname>, <varname>python35</varname>
and <varname>pypy</varname>.
</para>
<para>
<varname>python</varname> is an alias to <varname>python27</varname> and <varname>python3</varname> is an alias to <varname>python34</varname>.
</para>
<para>
<varname>python26</varname> and <varname>python27</varname> do not include modules that require
external dependencies (to reduce dependency bloat). Following modules need to be added as
<varname>buildInput</varname> explicitly:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.bsddb</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.curses</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.curses_panel</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.crypt</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.gdbm</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.sqlite3</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.tkinter</varname></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><varname>python.modules.readline</varname></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>For convenience <varname>python27Full</varname> and <varname>python26Full</varname>
are provided with all modules included.</para>
<para>
Python packages that
use <link xlink:href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools/"><literal>setuptools</literal></link> or <literal>distutils</literal>,
can be built using the <varname>buildPythonPackage</varname> function as documented below.
</para>
<para>
All packages depending on any Python interpreter get appended <varname>$out/${python.sitePackages}</varname>
to <literal>$PYTHONPATH</literal> if such directory exists.
</para>
<variablelist>
<title>
Useful attributes on interpreters packages:
</title>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>libPrefix</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Name of the folder in <literal>${python}/lib/</literal> for corresponding interpreter.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>interpreter</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Alias for <literal>${python}/bin/${executable}.</literal>
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>buildEnv</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Function to build python interpreter environments with extra packages bundled together.
See <xref linkend="ssec-python-build-env" /> for usage and documentation.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>sitePackages</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Alias for <literal>lib/${libPrefix}/site-packages</literal>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>executable</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Name of the interpreter executable, ie <literal>python3.4</literal>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<section xml:id="ssec-build-python-package"><title><varname>buildPythonPackage</varname> function</title>
<para>
The function is implemented in <link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/development/python-modules/generic/default.nix">
<filename>pkgs/development/python-modules/generic/default.nix</filename></link>.
Example usage:
<programlisting language="nix">
twisted = buildPythonPackage {
name = "twisted-8.1.0";
src = pkgs.fetchurl {
url = http://tmrc.mit.edu/mirror/twisted/Twisted/8.1/Twisted-8.1.0.tar.bz2;
sha256 = "0q25zbr4xzknaghha72mq57kh53qw1bf8csgp63pm9sfi72qhirl";
};
propagatedBuildInputs = [ self.ZopeInterface ];
meta = {
homepage = http://twistedmatrix.com/;
description = "Twisted, an event-driven networking engine written in Python";
license = stdenv.lib.licenses.mit;
};
};
</programlisting>
Most of Python packages that use <varname>buildPythonPackage</varname> are defined
in <link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix"><filename>pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix</filename></link>
and generated for each python interpreter separately into attribute sets <varname>python26Packages</varname>,
<varname>python27Packages</varname>, <varname>python35Packages</varname>, <varname>python33Packages</varname>,
<varname>python34Packages</varname> and <varname>pypyPackages</varname>.
</para>
<para>
<function>buildPythonPackage</function> mainly does four things:
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
In the <varname>buildPhase</varname>, it calls
<literal>${python.interpreter} setup.py bdist_wheel</literal> to build a wheel binary zipfile.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
In the <varname>installPhase</varname>, it installs the wheel file using
<literal>pip install *.whl</literal>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
In the <varname>postFixup</varname> phase, <literal>wrapPythonPrograms</literal>
bash function is called to wrap all programs in <filename>$out/bin/*</filename>
directory to include <literal>$PYTHONPATH</literal> and <literal>$PATH</literal>
environment variables.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
In the <varname>installCheck</varname> phase, <literal>${python.interpreter} setup.py test</literal>
is ran.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
<para>By default <varname>doCheck = true</varname> is set</para>
<para>
As in Perl, dependencies on other Python packages can be specified in the
<varname>buildInputs</varname> and
<varname>propagatedBuildInputs</varname> attributes. If something is
exclusively a build-time dependency, use
<varname>buildInputs</varname>; if its (also) a runtime dependency,
use <varname>propagatedBuildInputs</varname>.
</para>
<para>
By default <varname>meta.platforms</varname> is set to the same value
as the interpreter unless overriden otherwise.
</para>
<variablelist>
<title>
<varname>buildPythonPackage</varname> parameters
(all parameters from <varname>mkDerivation</varname> function are still supported)
</title>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>namePrefix</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Prepended text to <varname>${name}</varname> parameter.
Defaults to <literal>"python3.3-"</literal> for Python 3.3, etc. Set it to
<literal>""</literal>
if you're packaging an application or a command line tool.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>disabled</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
If <varname>true</varname>, package is not build for
particular python interpreter version. Grep around
<filename>pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix</filename>
for examples.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>setupPyBuildFlags</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
List of flags passed to <command>setup.py build_ext</command> command.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>pythonPath</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
List of packages to be added into <literal>$PYTHONPATH</literal>.
Packages in <varname>pythonPath</varname> are not propagated
(contrary to <varname>propagatedBuildInputs</varname>).
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>preShellHook</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Hook to execute commands before <varname>shellHook</varname>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>postShellHook</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Hook to execute commands after <varname>shellHook</varname>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>makeWrapperArgs</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
A list of strings. Arguments to be passed to
<varname>makeWrapper</varname>, which wraps generated binaries. By
default, the arguments to <varname>makeWrapper</varname> set
<varname>PATH</varname> and <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname> environment
variables before calling the binary. Additional arguments here can
allow a developer to set environment variables which will be
available when the binary is run. For example,
<varname>makeWrapperArgs = ["--set FOO BAR" "--set BAZ QUX"]</varname>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</section>
<section xml:id="ssec-python-build-env"><title><function>python.buildEnv</function> function</title>
<para>
Create Python environments using low-level <function>pkgs.buildEnv</function> function. Example <filename>default.nix</filename>:
<programlisting language="nix">
<![CDATA[with import <nixpkgs> {};
python.buildEnv.override {
extraLibs = [ pkgs.pythonPackages.pyramid ];
ignoreCollisions = true;
}]]>
</programlisting>
Running <command>nix-build</command> will create
<filename>/nix/store/cf1xhjwzmdki7fasgr4kz6di72ykicl5-python-2.7.8-env</filename>
with wrapped binaries in <filename>bin/</filename>.
</para>
<para>
You can also use <varname>env</varname> attribute to create local
environments with needed packages installed (somewhat comparable to
<literal>virtualenv</literal>). For example, with the following
<filename>shell.nix</filename>:
<programlisting language="nix">
<![CDATA[with import <nixpkgs> {};
(python3.buildEnv.override {
extraLibs = with python3Packages;
[ numpy
requests
];
}).env]]>
</programlisting>
Running <command>nix-shell</command> will drop you into a shell where
<command>python</command> will have specified packages in its path.
</para>
<variablelist>
<title>
<function>python.buildEnv</function> arguments
</title>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>extraLibs</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
List of packages installed inside the environment.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>postBuild</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Shell command executed after the build of environment.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>ignoreCollisions</varname></term>
<listitem><para>
Ignore file collisions inside the environment (default is <varname>false</varname>).
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</section>
<section xml:id="ssec-python-tools"><title>Tools</title>
<para>Packages inside nixpkgs are written by hand. However many tools
exist in community to help save time. No tool is preferred at the moment.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
<link xlink:href="https://github.com/proger/python2nix">python2nix</link>
by Vladimir Kirillov
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<link xlink:href="https://github.com/garbas/pypi2nix">pypi2nix</link>
by Rok Garbas
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<link xlink:href="https://github.com/offlinehacker/pypi2nix">pypi2nix</link>
by Jaka Hudoklin
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section xml:id="ssec-python-development"><title>Development</title>
<para>
To develop Python packages <function>buildPythonPackage</function> has
additional logic inside <varname>shellPhase</varname> to run
<command>pip install -e . --prefix $TMPDIR/</command> for the package.
</para>
<warning><para><varname>shellPhase</varname> is executed only if <filename>setup.py</filename>
exists.</para></warning>
<para>
Given a <filename>default.nix</filename>:
<programlisting language="nix">
<![CDATA[with import <nixpkgs> {};
buildPythonPackage {
name = "myproject";
buildInputs = with pkgs.pythonPackages; [ pyramid ];
src = ./.;
}]]>
</programlisting>
Running <command>nix-shell</command> with no arguments should give you
the environment in which the package would be build with
<command>nix-build</command>.
</para>
<para>
Shortcut to setup environments with C headers/libraries and python packages:
<programlisting language="bash">$ nix-shell -p pythonPackages.pyramid zlib libjpeg git</programlisting>
</para>
<note><para>
There is a boolean value <varname>lib.inNixShell</varname> set to
<varname>true</varname> if nix-shell is invoked.
</para></note>
</section>
<section xml:id="ssec-python-faq"><title>FAQ</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>How to solve circular dependencies?</term>
<listitem><para>
If you have packages <varname>A</varname> and <varname>B</varname> that
depend on each other, when packaging <varname>B</varname> override package
<varname>A</varname> not to depend on <varname>B</varname> as input
(and also the other way around).
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><varname>install_data / data_files</varname> problems resulting into <literal>error: could not create '/nix/store/6l1bvljpy8gazlsw2aw9skwwp4pmvyxw-python-2.7.8/etc': Permission denied</literal></term>
<listitem><para>
<link xlink:href="https://bitbucket.org/pypa/setuptools/issue/130/install_data-doesnt-respect-prefix">
Known bug in setuptools <varname>install_data</varname> does not respect --prefix</link>. Example of
such package using the feature is <filename>pkgs/tools/X11/xpra/default.nix</filename>. As workaround
install it as an extra <varname>preInstall</varname> step:
<programlisting>${python.interpreter} setup.py install_data --install-dir=$out --root=$out
sed -i '/ = data_files/d' setup.py</programlisting>
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Rationale of non-existent global site-packages</term>
<listitem><para>
There is no need to have global site-packages in Nix. Each package has isolated
dependency tree and installing any python package will only populate <varname>$PATH</varname>
inside user environment. See <xref linkend="ssec-python-build-env" /> to create self-contained
interpreter with a set of packages.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</section>
<section xml:id="ssec-python-contrib"><title>Contributing guidelines</title>
<para>
Following rules are desired to be respected:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Make sure package builds for all python interpreters. Use <varname>disabled</varname> argument to
<function>buildPythonPackage</function> to set unsupported interpreters.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
If tests need to be disabled for a package, make sure you leave a comment about reasoning.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Packages in <link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix"><filename>pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix</filename></link>
are sorted quasi-alphabetically to avoid merge conflicts.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
</section>