How to publish a Python package with Hy code?

Hy language is great: with it you can code in a Pythonic Lisp dialect - and embed that code directly in your Python applications.

No other runtime needed! Just the hy package.

However at first you may struggle (like me) to create a package including Hy code. This is no big deal when you know which setuptools magic words to invoke.

Let's wrap up!

Step 1: code your .hy files

You can put them in your package, like you do with your Python files.

This gives you a file tree like that:

setup.py
<your_package_name>>/
	__init__.py
	<one_hy_module>.hy
	<another_hy_module>.hy

Step 2: add an import hy

If you want your users to use directly your code without to have themselves to think about installing and importing Hy, you must do it for them.

So in your package __init__.py, add the following line:

import hy

Step 3: announce your package depends on Hy

To import Hy successfully, your users first need it installed. Easy, tell that your package depends on Hy, as you would for any other dependency:

in setup.py:

setup(
	# ...
	install_requires=[
		"hy"
	]
	# ...
)

Step 4: tell setuptools to include .hy files

Finally for your users to call your Hy code, you must ensure it is duly included in the final package.

in setup.py:

setup(
	# ...
	package_data={
		"<your_package_name>": ["*.hy"],
	}
	# ...
)

Step 5: declare the package as not zip-safe

As only .py and .pyc files can be imported from zip files, we should declare our package as not zip-safe.

in setup.py:

setup(
	# ...
	zip_safe=False,
	# ...
)

Final Step: create your package

You're done with the configuration.

You can test your package with:

python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel

Install it locally (to test it) with:

# De-install the previous version, if any.
pip uninstall <your_package_name>
python setup.py install

Finally when you're happy with it, you can publish it to PyPI:

# Register your package.
python setup.py register -r pypi
# Upload it!
python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel --universal upload -r pypi

You may also use twine for a more secure and consistent upload to PyPI. In this case, do:

python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
twine upload dist/*

Enjoy your Hy programming!

Yoan - https://blog.ytotech.com