Distributions

A Distribution is a serialization of the Package and optionally the data too (code, database, a book etc) to some concretely addressable form that can be ‘distributed’ (e.g. uploaded) or accessed (e.g. downloaded). For example:

• file(s) on disk
• an API at a specific url.

Note

To the extent possible, we seek to reuse existing ‘distribution’ formats rather than invent our own.

Currently, we provide 2 types of basic file distributions:

• Simple (Ini-Based) Distribution - DEFAULT
• Python Distribution

It is also easy to extend datapkg to support new distribution types. See Extending Datapkg.

Base Distribution

class datapkg.distribution.DistributionBase(package=None)

classmethod load(path)

Load a L{Package} object from a path to a package distribution.

@return: the Distribution object.

stream(path)

Return a fileobj stream for material at path.

write(path, **kwargs)

Write this distribution to disk at path.

Simple Distribution

class datapkg.distribution.SimpleDistribution(package=None)

Simple distribution storing metadata in an ini file.

File layout:

{dist-path}/metadata.txt

  * metadata.txt: package metadata in ini-file format (key = value or
    key: value with support for line continuations). See
    http://docs.python.org/library/configparser.html.
  * Manifest items are inserted as sections with name of ile and prefix
    'manifest::' e.g. [manifest::myfilename.csv]

{dist-path}/....

    # Data (and code): any files you want (specify them in the
    # manifest).

write(path, **kwargs)

Writes distribution to disk.

Metadata written to metadata.txt in ini style (python ConfigParser) with encoding to utf8.

Python Distribution

class datapkg.distribution.PythonDistribution(package=None)

Datapkg distribution based on python distribution format (based on setuptools).

File layout:

{dist-path}/setup.py
    # as per standard python approach main 'metadata' goes in python
    # setup.py file with key/value arguments to setup method.

{dist-path}/MANIFEST.in
    # manifest template specifying rules for what files to include in
    # the distribution. For details see:
    # http://docs.python.org/distutils/sourcedist.html#the-manifest-in-template
    # NB: If you want to explicitly list every file you can create a
    # MANIFEST file.

{dist-path}/{pkgname}/...

    # Data (and code) files. For python to pick up files correctly
    # they should be in subdirectory named after the package or
    # subdirectories thereof (e.g. {pkgname}/data

classmethod load(path)

Load a L{Package} object from a path to a package distribution.

write(path, template='default')

See parent.

@param template: paster template to use