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I want to have a Python file with code called 'foobar' that is meant to be executed as a script when the package is installed as in:

$ foobar -i arg1 arg2

foobar is declared as script in setup.py.

The foobar file also contains functions/classes that are imported by other modules in the package, so there's a separate file quux.py that imports foobar:

(in `quux.py`):
import mypackage
import mypackage.foobar as foobar

How can I keep foobar without the .py extension and declare it as a script in setup.py but still be able to import it from another file as a module? Is this the right answer: Import a python module without .py extension, -- or is there another trick?

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In general, the solution here is to leave foobar.py as a module, and have the script be something as simple as:

import foobar
foobar.main()

If you're installing your module using setup.py (and you probably should be), you can also do this via console_scripts entry points, like this:

entry_points={
    'console_scripts': [
        'foobar = foobar:main'
    ],
},

This will install a foobar command that is roughly equivalent to the stub in the first part of this answer.

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2 Comments

Which of these two solutions is more likely to always work, regardless of pip/easy_install/distribute on user-end? I want the one least likely to break, since both are easy to do code-wise
Do the entry_points method, because it handles os-dependent things under the hood for you.

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