File: //usr/share/doc/python3-dev/html/distutils/commandref.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" /><meta name="generator" content="Docutils 0.17.1: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/" />
<title>8. Command Reference — Python 3.10.12 documentation</title><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../_static/pygments.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css?2022.1" />
<script data-url_root="../" id="documentation_options" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/underscore.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/doctools.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script>
<link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml"
title="Search within Python 3.10.12 documentation"
href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/>
<link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" />
<link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" />
<link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" />
<link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" />
<link rel="next" title="9. API Reference" href="apiref.html" />
<link rel="prev" title="7. Extending Distutils" href="extending.html" />
<link rel="canonical" href="file:///usr/share/doc/python3.10/html/distutils/commandref.html" />
<style>
@media only screen {
table.full-width-table {
width: 100%;
}
}
</style>
<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.svg" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/menu.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="mobile-nav">
<input type="checkbox" id="menuToggler" class="toggler__input" aria-controls="navigation"
aria-pressed="false" aria-expanded="false" role="button" aria-label="Menu" />
<label for="menuToggler" class="toggler__label">
<span></span>
</label>
<nav class="nav-content" role="navigation">
<a href="https://www.python.org/" class="nav-logo">
<img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="Logo"/>
</a>
<div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<form role="search" class="search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" class="search-icon">
<path fill-rule="nonzero"
d="M15.5 14h-.79l-.28-.27a6.5 6.5 0 001.48-5.34c-.47-2.78-2.79-5-5.59-5.34a6.505 6.505 0 00-7.27 7.27c.34 2.8 2.56 5.12 5.34 5.59a6.5 6.5 0 005.34-1.48l.27.28v.79l4.25 4.25c.41.41 1.08.41 1.49 0 .41-.41.41-1.08 0-1.49L15.5 14zm-6 0C7.01 14 5 11.99 5 9.5S7.01 5 9.5 5 14 7.01 14 9.5 11.99 14 9.5 14z" fill="#444"></path>
</svg>
<input type="text" name="q" aria-label="Quick search"/>
<input type="submit" value="Go"/>
</form>
</nav>
<div class="menu-wrapper">
<nav class="menu" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
<div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">8. Command Reference</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#installing-modules-the-install-command-family">8.1. Installing modules: the <strong class="command">install</strong> command family</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#install-data">8.1.1. <strong class="command">install_data</strong></a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#install-scripts">8.1.2. <strong class="command">install_scripts</strong></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#creating-a-source-distribution-the-sdist-command">8.2. Creating a source distribution: the <strong class="command">sdist</strong> command</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Previous topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="extending.html"
title="previous chapter"><span class="section-number">7. </span>Extending Distutils</a></p>
<h4>Next topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="apiref.html"
title="next chapter"><span class="section-number">9. </span>API Reference</a></p>
<div role="note" aria-label="source link">
<h3>This Page</h3>
<ul class="this-page-menu">
<li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.10/Doc/distutils/commandref.rst"
rel="nofollow">Show Source
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
<h3>Navigation</h3>
<ul>
<li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
<a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
accesskey="I">index</a></li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index"
>modules</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="apiref.html" title="9. API Reference"
accesskey="N">next</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="extending.html" title="7. Extending Distutils"
accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li>
<li><img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="python logo" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
<li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li>
<li class="switchers">
<div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
</li>
<li>
</li>
<li id="cpython-language-and-version">
<a href="../index.html">3.10.12 Documentation</a> »
</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" accesskey="U">Distributing Python Modules (Legacy version)</a> »</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href=""><span class="section-number">8. </span>Command Reference</a></li>
<li class="right">
<div class="inline-search" role="search">
<form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<input placeholder="Quick search" aria-label="Quick search" type="text" name="q" />
<input type="submit" value="Go" />
<input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
</form>
</div>
|
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="document">
<div class="documentwrapper">
<div class="bodywrapper">
<div class="body" role="main">
<section id="command-reference">
<span id="reference"></span><h1><span class="section-number">8. </span>Command Reference<a class="headerlink" href="#command-reference" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>This document is being retained solely until the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">setuptools</span></code> documentation
at <a class="reference external" href="https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/setuptools.html">https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/setuptools.html</a>
independently covers all of the relevant information currently included here.</p>
</div>
<section id="installing-modules-the-install-command-family">
<span id="install-cmd"></span><h2><span class="section-number">8.1. </span>Installing modules: the <strong class="command">install</strong> command family<a class="headerlink" href="#installing-modules-the-install-command-family" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The install command ensures that the build commands have been run and then runs
the subcommands <strong class="command">install_lib</strong>, <strong class="command">install_data</strong> and
<strong class="command">install_scripts</strong>.</p>
<section id="install-data">
<span id="install-data-cmd"></span><h3><span class="section-number">8.1.1. </span><strong class="command">install_data</strong><a class="headerlink" href="#install-data" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>This command installs all data files provided with the distribution.</p>
</section>
<section id="install-scripts">
<span id="install-scripts-cmd"></span><h3><span class="section-number">8.1.2. </span><strong class="command">install_scripts</strong><a class="headerlink" href="#install-scripts" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>This command installs all (Python) scripts in the distribution.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="creating-a-source-distribution-the-sdist-command">
<span id="sdist-cmd"></span><h2><span class="section-number">8.2. </span>Creating a source distribution: the <strong class="command">sdist</strong> command<a class="headerlink" href="#creating-a-source-distribution-the-sdist-command" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The manifest template commands are:</p>
<table class="docutils align-default">
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 48%" />
<col style="width: 52%" />
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Command</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>Description</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><strong class="command">include pat1 pat2 ...</strong></p></td>
<td><p>include all files matching any of the listed
patterns</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><strong class="command">exclude pat1 pat2 ...</strong></p></td>
<td><p>exclude all files matching any of the listed
patterns</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><strong class="command">recursive-include dir pat1 pat2
...</strong></p></td>
<td><p>include all files under <em>dir</em> matching any of
the listed patterns</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><strong class="command">recursive-exclude dir pat1 pat2
...</strong></p></td>
<td><p>exclude all files under <em>dir</em> matching any of
the listed patterns</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><strong class="command">global-include pat1 pat2 ...</strong></p></td>
<td><p>include all files anywhere in the source tree
matching — & any of the listed patterns</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><strong class="command">global-exclude pat1 pat2 ...</strong></p></td>
<td><p>exclude all files anywhere in the source tree
matching — & any of the listed patterns</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><strong class="command">prune dir</strong></p></td>
<td><p>exclude all files under <em>dir</em></p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><strong class="command">graft dir</strong></p></td>
<td><p>include all files under <em>dir</em></p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The patterns here are Unix-style “glob” patterns: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*</span></code> matches any sequence of
regular filename characters, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">?</span></code> matches any single regular filename
character, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">[range]</span></code> matches any of the characters in <em>range</em> (e.g.,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">a-z</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">a-zA-Z</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">a-f0-9_.</span></code>). The definition of “regular filename
character” is platform-specific: on Unix it is anything except slash; on Windows
anything except backslash or colon.</p>
</section>
</section>
<div class="clearer"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
<div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">8. Command Reference</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#installing-modules-the-install-command-family">8.1. Installing modules: the <strong class="command">install</strong> command family</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#install-data">8.1.1. <strong class="command">install_data</strong></a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#install-scripts">8.1.2. <strong class="command">install_scripts</strong></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#creating-a-source-distribution-the-sdist-command">8.2. Creating a source distribution: the <strong class="command">sdist</strong> command</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Previous topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="extending.html"
title="previous chapter"><span class="section-number">7. </span>Extending Distutils</a></p>
<h4>Next topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="apiref.html"
title="next chapter"><span class="section-number">9. </span>API Reference</a></p>
<div role="note" aria-label="source link">
<h3>This Page</h3>
<ul class="this-page-menu">
<li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.10/Doc/distutils/commandref.rst"
rel="nofollow">Show Source
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clearer"></div>
</div>
<div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
<h3>Navigation</h3>
<ul>
<li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
<a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
>index</a></li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index"
>modules</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="apiref.html" title="9. API Reference"
>next</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="extending.html" title="7. Extending Distutils"
>previous</a> |</li>
<li><img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="python logo" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
<li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li>
<li class="switchers">
<div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
</li>
<li>
</li>
<li id="cpython-language-and-version">
<a href="../index.html">3.10.12 Documentation</a> »
</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >Distributing Python Modules (Legacy version)</a> »</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href=""><span class="section-number">8. </span>Command Reference</a></li>
<li class="right">
<div class="inline-search" role="search">
<form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<input placeholder="Quick search" aria-label="Quick search" type="text" name="q" />
<input type="submit" value="Go" />
<input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
</form>
</div>
|
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="footer">
© <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 2001-2025, Python Software Foundation.
<br />
This page is licensed under the Python Software Foundation License Version 2.
<br />
Examples, recipes, and other code in the documentation are additionally licensed under the Zero Clause BSD License.
<br />
See <a href="/license.html">History and License</a> for more information.<br />
<br />
The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation.
<a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a>
<br />
<br />
Last updated on August 15, 2025.
<a href="/bugs.html">Found a bug</a>?
<br />
Created using <a href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a> 4.3.2.
</div>
</body>
</html>