1:mod:`distutils` --- Building and installing Python modules 2=========================================================== 3 4.. module:: distutils 5 :synopsis: Support for building and installing Python modules into an 6 existing Python installation. 7 8.. sectionauthor:: Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake@acm.org> 9 10-------------- 11 12The :mod:`distutils` package provides support for building and installing 13additional modules into a Python installation. The new modules may be either 14100%-pure Python, or may be extension modules written in C, or may be 15collections of Python packages which include modules coded in both Python and C. 16 17Most Python users will *not* want to use this module directly, but instead 18use the cross-version tools maintained by the Python Packaging Authority. In 19particular, 20`setuptools <https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`__ is an 21enhanced alternative to :mod:`distutils` that provides: 22 23* support for declaring project dependencies 24* additional mechanisms for configuring which files to include in source 25 releases (including plugins for integration with version control systems) 26* the ability to declare project "entry points", which can be used as the 27 basis for application plugin systems 28* the ability to automatically generate Windows command line executables at 29 installation time rather than needing to prebuild them 30* consistent behaviour across all supported Python versions 31 32The recommended `pip <https://pip.pypa.io/>`__ installer runs all 33``setup.py`` scripts with ``setuptools``, even if the script itself only 34imports ``distutils``. Refer to the 35`Python Packaging User Guide <https://packaging.python.org>`_ for more 36information. 37 38For the benefits of packaging tool authors and users seeking a deeper 39understanding of the details of the current packaging and distribution 40system, the legacy :mod:`distutils` based user documentation and API 41reference remain available: 42 43* :ref:`install-index` 44* :ref:`distutils-index` 45