What needs to be in a setup.py to create a wheel?

Question

I have a Python project prj that we can describe as a collection of folders and a requirements.txt file:

[prj/fold1, prj/fold2,..., prj/foldN, prj/requirements.txt]

I want to package this project so that it can be easily installed on other computers. My understanding is that I need to add a setup.py file, but there are few things that I do not understand.

What should I write in the setup.py file in order to create a wheel package? Can you provide an example of the file and of the commands required to pack the project?

EDIT:

I have this setup.py:

(virtual_env_test) lpuggini@lpuggini-T3420:~/mlp/trunk$ cat setup.py                                                                                                                                               

    from setuptools import setup                                                                                                                                                                                       


    setup(name='mlearn',                                                                                                                                                                                               
          version='0.1',                                                                                                                                                                                               
          description='Tool to learn ip addresses on a network.',                                                                                                                                                      
          author='Corvil',                                                                                                                                                                                             
          author_email='...',                                                                                                                                                                                          
          packages=['common', 'iplearning', 'applearning', 'peerspeak'],                                                                                                                                               
          package_dir={                                                                                                                                                                                                
              'common':'common',                                                                                                                                                                                       
              'iplearning': 'iplearning',                                                                                                                                                                              
              'applearning': 'applearning',                                                                                                                                                                            
              'peerspeak':'peers_peak'},                                                                                                                                                                               
          )                                                                                                                                                                                                            
    (virtual_env_test) lpuggini@lpuggini-T3420:~/mlp/trunk$    

and I have run:

   (virtual_env_test) lpuggini@lpuggini-T3420:~/mlp/trunk$ python setup.py bdist_wheel                                                                                                                                
    running bdist_wheel                                                                                                                                                                                                
    running build                                                                                                                                                                                                      
    running build_py                                                                                                                                                                                                   
    package init file 'iplearning/__init__.py' not found (or not a regular file)                                                                                                                                       
    package init file 'applearning/__init__.py' not found (or not a regular file)                                                                                                                                      
    package init file 'peers_peak/__init__.py' not found (or not a regular file)                                                                                                                                       
    creating build/lib/peerspeak                                                                                                                                                                                       
    copying peers_peak/peers_peak.py -> build/lib/peerspeak                                                                                                                                                            
    copying peers_peak/peers_peak_report.py -> build/lib/peerspeak                                                                                                                                                     
    installing to build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel                                                                                                                                                                       
    running install                                                                                                                                                                                                    
    running install_lib                                                                                                                                                                                                
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64                                                                                                                                                                                  
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel                                                                                                                                                                            
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/peerspeak                                                                                                                                                                  
    copying build/lib/peerspeak/peers_peak.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/peerspeak                                                                                                                              
    copying build/lib/peerspeak/peers_peak_report.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/peerspeak                                                                                                                       
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/iplearning                                                                                                                                                                 
    copying build/lib/iplearning/iplearning_report.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/iplearning                                                                                                                     
    copying build/lib/iplearning/learnips.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/iplearning                                                                                                                              
    copying build/lib/iplearning/disttest.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/iplearning                                                                                                                              
    copying build/lib/iplearning/detect_new_ips.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/iplearning                                                                                                                        
    copying build/lib/iplearning/setup.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/iplearning                                                                                                                                 
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/applearning                                                                                                                                                                
    copying build/lib/applearning/detect_new_apps.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/applearning                                                                                                                     
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/common                                                                                                                                                                     
    copying build/lib/common/__init__.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/common                                                                                                                                      
    copying build/lib/common/utils.py -> build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/common                                                                                                                                         
    running install_egg_info                                                                                                                                                                                           
    running egg_info                                                                                                                                                                                                   
    creating mlearn.egg-info                                                                                                                                                                                           
    writing top-level names to mlearn.egg-info/top_level.txt                                                                                                                                                           
    writing mlearn.egg-info/PKG-INFO                                                                                                                                                                                   
    writing dependency_links to mlearn.egg-info/dependency_links.txt                                                                                                                                                   
    writing manifest file 'mlearn.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'                                                                                                                                                                
    reading manifest file 'mlearn.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'                                                                                                                                                                
    writing manifest file 'mlearn.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'                                                                                                                                                                
    Copying mlearn.egg-info to build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/mlearn-0.1-py3.5.egg-info                                                                                                                                
    running install_scripts                                                                                                                                                                                            
    creating build/bdist.linux-x86_64/wheel/mlearn-0.1.dist-info/WHEEL                                                                                                                                                 
    (virtual_env_test) lpuggini@lpuggini-T3420:~/mlp/trunk$       

but I do not see any whl file. What's wrong?

Answer 1

You don't need to write anything special in your setup.py to be able to create a wheel. As long as your setup.py is using setuptools (which it should be anyway), you just write a normal setup.py , install the wheel package on your system, and run python setup.py bdist_wheel .