Pycharm - 编辑已安装的包

Question

I have Pycharm 2017.2 connected to vagrant 1.9.7 I want to change some line in installed package.

It is possible only by editing /lib/python/site-packages/ inside vagrant using vim or other cli editor. When i try to edit anything in Pycharm it asks for permission to edit non project file firstly, but changes don't cause server reload in debug mode. Additionally, inserted code is not executed. Is it possible to edit installed packages in Pycharm?

EDIT: One answer shows how to do it by installing packages with -e option.

Is there any way to edit this packages when they are installed normally without -e option?

Answer 1

With this solution you can edit & debug 3rd party packages in PyCharm.

Prerequisites:

1. Fork & clone the repo you want to edit on your host. Say to /on-your-host/path/to/3rd-party
2. In your Vagrantfile , configure your synced_folder from /on-your-host/path/to/3rd-party to /vagrant/3rd-party

In Terminal:

2. ssh into your vagrant
3. Activate the project's virtualenv, if any
4. pip install -e /vagrant/3rd-party

In PyCharm:

1. Set your Project Interpreter > Gear icon > Add Remote > Vagrant
2. Create a run/debug configuration for your needs
3. Run/debug it
4. Add breakpoints inside the 3rd party package
5. You should be able to edit and use the debugger on this code now

Notes:

1. Pip install in edit mode docs
2. Forking is optional. If you just want to play around, without contributing, then skip forking and just clone the original repo on your host.
3. You may need to refresh PyCharm external libraries .
   1. In my case was enough to right click on the 3rd party package name (from the breadcrumbs) and delete it
   2. Then Settings > Project Interpreter: click gear icon > More > click edit icon > OK, OK, OK