Things Distutils Can’t Do For You

Releasing your first Python package is a daunting process. (Releasing your second one is a little easier.) Distutils tries to automate as much of it as possible, but there are some things you simply must do yourself.

• Choose a license. This is a complicated topic, fraught with politics and peril. If you wish to release your software as open source, I humbly offer five pieces of advice:
  1. Don’t write your own license.
  2. Don’t write your own license.
  3. Don’t write your own license.
  4. It doesn’t need to be GPL, but it needs to be GPL-compatible.
  5. Don’t write your own license.
• Classify your software using the PyPI classification system. I’ll explain what this means later in this chapter.
• Write a “read me” file. Don’t skimp on this. At a minimum, it should give your users an overview of what your software does and how to install it.