setup.py file for building a python package

Question

What are the arguments for the setup function in setup.py file and how should I enclose these arguments in the code. What is the significance of the description, long_description and long_description_content_type in python package. What does an init .py file does?

Answer 1

The long_description and long_description_content_type fields are only necessary if you are planning to upload your package to PyPI . The long_description can be just a plain text string, or it can be text formatted with some type of markdown. long_description_content_type is used to tell PyPI what flavor of markdown is used for long_description so that PyPI can render it correctly. This is explained in the description section of Packaging and distributing projects .