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<h1>Python Enhancement Proposals</h1>
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<section id="pep-content">
<h1 class="page-title">PEP 241 Metadata for Python Software Packages</h1>
<dl class="rfc2822 field-list simple">
<dt class="field-odd">Author<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-odd">A.M. Kuchling &lt;amk&#32;&#97;t&#32;amk.ca&gt;</dd>
<dt class="field-even">Discussions-To<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-even"><a class="reference external" href="https://mail.python.org/archives/list/distutils-sig&#64;python.org/">Distutils-SIG list</a></dd>
<dt class="field-odd">Status<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-odd"><abbr title="Replaced by another succeeding PEP">Superseded</abbr></dd>
<dt class="field-even">Type<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-even"><abbr title="Normative PEP with a new feature for Python, implementation change for CPython or interoperability standard for the ecosystem">Standards Track</abbr></dd>
<dt class="field-odd">Topic<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-odd"><a class="reference external" href="../topic/packaging/">Packaging</a></dd>
<dt class="field-even">Created<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-even">12-Mar-2001</dd>
<dt class="field-odd">Post-History<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-odd"><a class="reference external" href="https://mail.python.org/archives/list/distutils-sig&#64;python.org/thread/46XPDHQHI3XAAJHEZAMAMKZYAI6K7NB6/" title="Distutils-SIG thread">19-Mar-2001</a></dd>
<dt class="field-even">Superseded-By<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-even"><a class="reference external" href="../pep-0314/">314</a></dd>
</dl>
<hr class="docutils" />
<section id="contents">
<details><summary>Table of Contents</summary><ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#including-metadata-in-packages">Including Metadata in Packages</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#fields">Fields</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#metadata-version">Metadata-Version</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#name">Name</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#version">Version</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#platform-multiple-use">Platform (multiple use)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#summary">Summary</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#description-optional">Description (optional)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#keywords-optional">Keywords (optional)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#home-page-optional">Home-page (optional)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#author-optional">Author (optional)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#author-email">Author-email</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#license">License</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#copyright">Copyright</a></li>
</ul>
</details></section>
<section id="introduction">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#introduction" role="doc-backlink">Introduction</a></h2>
<p>This PEP describes a mechanism for adding metadata to Python
packages. It includes specifics of the field names, and their
semantics and usage.</p>
</section>
<section id="including-metadata-in-packages">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#including-metadata-in-packages" role="doc-backlink">Including Metadata in Packages</a></h2>
<p>The Distutils sdist command will be modified to extract the
metadata fields from the arguments and write them to a file in the
generated zipfile or tarball. This file will be named PKG-INFO
and will be placed in the top directory of the source
distribution (where the README, INSTALL, and other files usually
go).</p>
<p>Developers may not provide their own PKG-INFO file. The “sdist”
command will, if it detects an existing PKG-INFO file, terminate
with an appropriate error message. This should prevent confusion
caused by the PKG-INFO and setup.py files being out of sync.</p>
<p>The PKG-INFO file format is a single set of <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> headers
parseable by the rfc822.py module. The field names listed in the
following section are used as the header names. Theres no
extension mechanism in this simple format; the Catalog and Distutils
SIGs will aim at getting a more flexible format ready for Python 2.2.</p>
</section>
<section id="fields">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#fields" role="doc-backlink">Fields</a></h2>
<p>This section specifies the names and semantics of each of the
supported metadata fields.</p>
<p>Fields marked with “(Multiple use)” may be specified multiple
times in a single PKG-INFO file. Other fields may only occur
once in a PKG-INFO file. Fields marked with “(optional)” are
not required to appear in a valid PKG-INFO file, all other
fields must be present.</p>
<section id="metadata-version">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#metadata-version" role="doc-backlink">Metadata-Version</a></h3>
<p>Version of the file format; currently “1.0” is the only
legal value here.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Metadata</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">Version</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mf">1.0</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="name">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#name" role="doc-backlink">Name</a></h3>
<p>The name of the package.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Name</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">BeagleVote</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="version">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#version" role="doc-backlink">Version</a></h3>
<p>A string containing the packages version number. This
field should be parseable by one of the Version classes
(StrictVersion or LooseVersion) in the distutils.version
module.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Version</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mf">1.0</span><span class="n">a2</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="platform-multiple-use">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#platform-multiple-use" role="doc-backlink">Platform (multiple use)</a></h3>
<p>A comma-separated list of platform specifications, summarizing
the operating systems supported by the package. The major
supported platforms are listed below, but this list is
necessarily incomplete.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">POSIX</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">MacOS</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Windows</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">BeOS</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Palm</span> <span class="n">OS</span><span class="o">.</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Binary distributions will use the Supported-Platform field in
their metadata to specify the OS and CPU for which the binary
package was compiled. The semantics of the Supported-Platform
are not specified in this PEP.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Platform</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">POSIX</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Windows</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="summary">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#summary" role="doc-backlink">Summary</a></h3>
<p>A one-line summary of what the package does.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Summary</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">A</span> <span class="n">module</span> <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">collecting</span> <span class="n">votes</span> <span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">beagles.</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="description-optional">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#description-optional" role="doc-backlink">Description (optional)</a></h3>
<p>A longer description of the package that can run to several
paragraphs. (Software that deals with metadata should not
assume any maximum size for this field, though one hopes that
people wont include their instruction manual as the
long-description.)</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Description</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">This</span> <span class="n">module</span> <span class="n">collects</span> <span class="n">votes</span> <span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">beagles</span>
<span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">order</span> <span class="n">to</span> <span class="n">determine</span> <span class="n">their</span> <span class="n">electoral</span> <span class="n">wishes</span><span class="o">.</span>
<span class="n">Do</span> <span class="n">NOT</span> <span class="k">try</span> <span class="n">to</span> <span class="n">use</span> <span class="n">this</span> <span class="n">module</span> <span class="k">with</span> <span class="n">basset</span> <span class="n">hounds</span><span class="p">;</span>
<span class="n">it</span> <span class="n">makes</span> <span class="n">them</span> <span class="n">grumpy</span><span class="o">.</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="keywords-optional">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#keywords-optional" role="doc-backlink">Keywords (optional)</a></h3>
<p>A list of additional keywords to be used to assist searching
for the package in a larger catalog.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Keywords</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">dog</span> <span class="n">puppy</span> <span class="n">voting</span> <span class="n">election</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="home-page-optional">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#home-page-optional" role="doc-backlink">Home-page (optional)</a></h3>
<p>A string containing the URL for the packages home page.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Home</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">page</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">http</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="o">//</span><span class="n">www</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">example</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">com</span><span class="o">/~</span><span class="n">cschultz</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="n">bvote</span><span class="o">/</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="author-optional">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#author-optional" role="doc-backlink">Author (optional)</a></h3>
<p>A string containing at a minimum the authors name. Contact
information can also be added, separating each line with
newlines.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Author</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">C</span><span class="o">.</span> <span class="n">Schultz</span>
<span class="n">Universal</span> <span class="n">Features</span> <span class="n">Syndicate</span>
<span class="n">Los</span> <span class="n">Angeles</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">CA</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="author-email">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#author-email" role="doc-backlink">Author-email</a></h3>
<p>A string containing the authors e-mail address. It can contain
a name and e-mail address in the legal forms for a <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a>
From: header. Its not optional because cataloging systems
can use the e-mail portion of this field as a unique key
representing the author. A catalog might provide authors the
ability to store their GPG key, personal home page, and other
additional metadata <em>about the author</em>, and optionally the
ability to associate several e-mail addresses with the same
person. Author-related metadata fields are not covered by this
PEP.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Author</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">email</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="s2">&quot;C. Schultz&quot;</span> <span class="o">&lt;</span><span class="n">cschultz</span><span class="nd">@example</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">com</span><span class="o">&gt;</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="license">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#license" role="doc-backlink">License</a></h3>
<p>A string selected from a short list of choices, specifying the
license covering the package. Some licenses result in the
software being freely redistributable, so packagers and
resellers can automatically know that theyre free to
redistribute the software. Other licenses will require
a careful reading by a human to determine how the software can be
repackaged and resold.</p>
<p>The choices are:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Artistic</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">BSD</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">DFSG</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">GNU</span> <span class="n">GPL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">GNU</span> <span class="n">LGPL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;MIT&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">Mozilla</span> <span class="n">PL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;public domain&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Python</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Qt</span> <span class="n">PL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Zope</span> <span class="n">PL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">unknown</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">nocommercial</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">nosell</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">nosource</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">shareware</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">other</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Definitions of some of the licenses are:</p>
<table class="docutils align-default">
<tbody>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>DFSG</td>
<td>The license conforms to the Debian Free Software
Guidelines, but does not use one of the other
DFSG conforming licenses listed here.
More information is available at:
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines</a></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>Python</td>
<td>Python 1.6 or higher license. Version 1.5.2 and
earlier are under the MIT license.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>public domain</td>
<td>Software is public domain, not copyrighted.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>unknown</td>
<td>Status is not known</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>nocommercial</td>
<td>Free private use but commercial use not permitted</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>nosell</td>
<td>Free use but distribution for profit by arrangement</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>nosource</td>
<td>Freely distributable but no source code</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>shareware</td>
<td>Payment is requested if software is used</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>other</td>
<td>General category for other non-DFSG licenses</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Some of these licenses can be interpreted to mean the software is
freely redistributable. The list of redistributable licenses is:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Artistic</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">BSD</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">DFSG</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">GNU</span> <span class="n">GPL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">GNU</span> <span class="n">LGPL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;MIT&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">Mozilla</span> <span class="n">PL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;public domain&quot;</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Python</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Qt</span> <span class="n">PL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">Zope</span> <span class="n">PL</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">nosource</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">shareware</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that being redistributable does not mean a package
qualifies as free software, nosource and shareware being
examples.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">License</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">MIT</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="acknowledgements">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#acknowledgements" role="doc-backlink">Acknowledgements</a></h2>
<p>Many changes and rewrites to this document were suggested by the
readers of the Distutils SIG. In particular, Sean Reifschneider
often contributed actual text for inclusion in this PEP.</p>
<p>The list of licenses was compiled using the SourceForge license
list and the CTAN license list compiled by Graham Williams; Carey
Evans also offered several useful suggestions on this list.</p>
</section>
<section id="copyright">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#copyright" role="doc-backlink">Copyright</a></h2>
<p>This document has been placed in the public domain.</p>
</section>
</section>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p>Source: <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/peps/blob/main/peps/pep-0241.rst">https://github.com/python/peps/blob/main/peps/pep-0241.rst</a></p>
<p>Last modified: <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/peps/commits/main/peps/pep-0241.rst">2023-09-09 17:39:29 GMT</a></p>
</article>
<nav id="pep-sidebar">
<h2>Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#including-metadata-in-packages">Including Metadata in Packages</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#fields">Fields</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#metadata-version">Metadata-Version</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#name">Name</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#version">Version</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#platform-multiple-use">Platform (multiple use)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#summary">Summary</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#description-optional">Description (optional)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#keywords-optional">Keywords (optional)</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#home-page-optional">Home-page (optional)</a></li>
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