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https://github.com/jaraco/pip-run

pip-run - dynamic dependency loader for Python
https://github.com/jaraco/pip-run

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pip-run - dynamic dependency loader for Python

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.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/pip-run.svg

   :target: https://pypi.org/project/pip-run



.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/pip-run.svg



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   :target: https://github.com/jaraco/pip-run/actions?query=workflow%3A%22tests%22

   :alt: tests



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``pip-run`` provides on-demand temporary package installation

for a single execution run.



It replaces this series of commands (or their Windows equivalent)::



    $ virtualenv --python pythonX.X --system-site-packages $temp/env

    $ $temp/env/bin/pip install pkg1 pkg2 -r reqs.txt

    $ $temp/env/bin/python ...

    $ rm -rf $temp/env



With this single-line command::



    $ py -X.X -m pip-run pkg1 pkg2 -r reqs.txt -- ...



.. note:: ``py`` is the Python Launcher for

   `Windows `_

   or `Unix `_ and isn't required to use

   pip-run, but is used in this guide and recommended for anyone to get

   a portable, cruft-free Python invocation.



Features include



- Downloads missing dependencies and makes their packages available for import.

- Installs packages to a special staging location such that they're not installed after the process exits.

- Relies on pip to cache downloads of such packages for reuse.

- Leaves no trace of its invocation (except files in pip's cache).

- Supersedes installed packages when required.

- Re-uses the pip tool chain for package installation.



``pip-run`` is not intended to solve production dependency management, but does aim to address the other, one-off scenarios around dependency management:



- trials and experiments

- build setup

- test runners

- just in time script running

- interactive development

- bug triage



``pip-run`` is a complement to Pip and Virtualenv, intended to more

readily address the on-demand needs.



Installation

============



``pip-run`` is meant to be installed in the system site packages

alongside pip, though it can also be installed in a virtualenv.



Usage

=====



- as script launcher

- as runtime dependency context manager

- as interactive interpreter in dependency context

- as module launcher (akin to `python -m`)

- as a shell shebang (``#!/usr/bin/env pip-run``), to create single-file Python tools



Invoke ``pip-run`` from the command-line using the console entry

script (simply ``pip-run``) or using the module executable (

``python -m pip-run``). This latter usage is particularly convenient

for testing a command across various Python versions.



Parameters following pip-run are passed directly to ``pip install``,

so ``pip-run numpy`` will install ``numpy`` (reporting any work done

during the install) and ``pip-run -v -r requirements.txt`` will verbosely

install all the requirements listed in a file called requirements.txt

(quiet is the default).

Any `environment variables honored by pip

`_

are also honored.



Following the parameters to ``pip install``, one may optionally

include a ``--`` after which any parameters will be executed

by a Python interpreter in the context or directly if prefixed by

``!``.



See ``pip-run --help`` for more details.



Examples

========



The `examples folder in this project

`_

includes some examples demonstrating

the power and usefulness of the project. Read the docs on those examples

for instructions.



Module Script Runner

--------------------



Perhaps the most powerful usage of ``pip-run`` is its ability to invoke

executable modules and packages via

`runpy `_ (aka

``python -m``)::



    $ pip-run cowsay -- -m cowsay "moove over, pip-run"



      -------------------

    < moove over, pip-run >

      -------------------

       \   ^__^

        \  (oo)\_______

           (__)\       )\/\

               ||----w |

               ||     ||



.. image:: docs/cowsay.svg

   :alt: cowsay example animation



Module Executable Runner

------------------------



Some package tools, like `ranger `_, are

invoked with a unique executable instead of a module. ``pip-run`` can

run an executable from a package if it is prependend by a ``!``::



    $ pip-run ranger-fm -- '!ranger'



Command Runner

--------------



Note that everything after the -- is passed to the python invocation,

so it's possible to have a one-liner that runs under a dependency

context::



    $ python -m pip-run requests -- -c "import requests; print(requests.get('https://pypi.org/project/pip-run').status_code)"

    200



As long as ``pip-run`` is installed in each of Python environments

on the system, this command can be readily repeated on the other

python environments by specifying the relevant interpreter::



    $ py -3.7 -m pip-run ...



Script Runner

-------------



``pip-run`` can run a Python file with indicated dependencies. Because

arguments after ``--`` are passed directly to the Python interpreter

and because the Python interpreter will run any script, invoking a script

with dependencies is easy. Consider this script "myscript.py":



.. code-block:: python



    #!/usr/bin/env python



    import requests



    req = requests.get('https://pypi.org/project/pip-run')

    print(req.status_code)



To invoke it while making sure requests is present:



    $ pip-run requests -- myscript.py



``pip-run`` will make sure that requests is installed then invoke

the script in a Python interpreter configured with requests and its

dependencies.



For added convenience when running scripts, ``pip-run`` will infer

the beginning of Python parameters if it encounters a filename

of a Python script that exists, allowing for omission of the ``--``

for script invocation:



    $ pip-run requests myscript.py



Script-declared Dependencies

----------------------------



Building on Script Runner above, ``pip-run`` also allows

dependencies to be declared in the script itself so that

the user need not specify them at each invocation.



To declare dependencies in a script, add a ``__requires__``

variable or ``# Requirements:`` section to the script:



.. code-block:: python



    #!/usr/bin/env python



    __requires__ = ['requests']



    # or (PEP 723)



    # /// script

    # dependencies = ['requests']

    # ///



    import requests



    req = requests.get('https://pypi.org/project/pip-run')

    print(req.status_code)



With that declaration in place, one can now invoke ``pip-run`` without

declaring any parameters to pip::



    $ pip-run myscript.py

    200



The format for requirements must follow `PEP 508 `_.



Single-script Tools and Shebang Support

---------------------------------------



Combined with in-script dependencies, ``pip-run`` can be used as a shebang to

create fully self-contained scripts that install and run their own

dependencies, as long as ``pip-run`` is installed on the system ``PATH``.

Consider, for example, the ``pydragon`` script:



.. code-block:: shell



    #!/usr/bin/env pip-run

    __requires__ = ['requests', 'beautifulsoup4', 'cowsay']

    import requests

    from bs4 import BeautifulSoup as BS

    import cowsay

    res = requests.get('https://python.org')

    b = BS(res.text, 'html.parser')

    cowsay.dragon(b.find("div", class_="introduction").get_text())



This executable script is available in the repo as ``examples/pydragon`` (for

Unix) and ``examples/pydragon.py`` (for Windows [2]_). Executing this script is

equivalent to executing ``pip-run pydragon``.



By default, the script will assemble the dependencies on each invocation,

which may be inconvenient for a script. See `Environment Persistence

<#Environment-Persistence>`_ for a technique to persist the assembled

dependencies across invocations. One may inject ``PIP_RUN_MODE=persist``

in the shebang, but be aware that doing so breaks Windows portability.



.. [2] ``.PY`` must exist in the PATHEXT for Python scripts to be executable. See `this documentation `_ for more background.



Other Script Directives

-----------------------



``pip-run`` also recognizes a global ``__index_url__`` attribute. If present,

this value will supply ``--index-url`` to pip with the attribute value,

allowing a script to specify a custom package index:



.. code-block:: python



    #!/usr/bin/env python



    __requires__ = ['my_private_package']

    __index_url__ = 'https://my.private.index/'



    import my_private_package

    ...



Extracting Requirements

-----------------------



After having used ``pip-run`` to run scripts, it may be desirable to extract the requirements from the ``__requires__`` variable or ``# Requirements:`` section of a

script to install those more permanently. pip-run provides a routine to facilitate

this case::



    $ py -m pip_run.read-deps examples/pydragon

    requests beautifulsoup4 cowsay



On Unix, it is possible to pipe this result directly to pip::



    $ pip install $(py -m pip_run.read-deps examples/pydragon)



To generate a requirements.txt file, specify a newline separator::



    $ py -m pip_run.read-deps --separator newline examples/pydragon > requirements.txt



And since `pipenv `_ uses the same syntax,

the same technique works for pipenv::



    $ pipenv install $(python -m pip_run.read-deps script.py)



Interactive Interpreter

-----------------------



``pip-run`` also offers a painless way to run a Python interactive

interpreter in the context of certain dependencies::



    $ /clean-install/python -m pip-run boto

    >>> import boto

    >>>



Experiments and Testing

-----------------------



Because ``pip-run`` provides a single-command invocation, it

is great for experiments and rapid testing of various package

specifications.



Consider a scenario in which one wishes to create an environment

where two different versions of the same package are installed,

such as to replicate a broken real-world environment. Stack two

invocations of pip-run to get two different versions installed::



    $ pip-run keyring==21.8.0 -- -m pip-run keyring==22.0.0 -- -c "import importlib.metadata, pprint; pprint.pprint([dist._path for dist in importlib.metadata.distributions() if dist.metadata['name'] == 'keyring'])"

    [PosixPath('/var/folders/03/7l0ffypn50b83bp0bt07xcch00n8zm/T/pip-run-a3xvd267/keyring-22.0.0.dist-info'),

    PosixPath('/var/folders/03/7l0ffypn50b83bp0bt07xcch00n8zm/T/pip-run-1fdjsgfs/keyring-21.8.0.dist-info')]



.. todo: illustrate example here



IPython Inference

-----------------



If IPython is specified as one of the dependencies, the Python

interpreter will be launched via IPython (using ``-m IPython``)

for interactive mode. This behaviour may be toggled off by

setting the environment variable ``PIP_RUN_IPYTHON_MODE=ignore``.



How Does It Work

================



``pip-run`` effectively does the following:



- ``pip install -t $TMPDIR``

- ``PYTHONPATH=$TMPDIR python``

- cleanup



For specifics, see `pip_run.run()

`_.



Environment Persistence

=======================



``pip-run`` honors the ``PIP_RUN_RETENTION_STRATEGY`` variable. If unset or

set to ``destroy``, dependencies are installed to a temporary directory on

each invocation (and deleted after). Setting this variable to ``persist`` will

instead create or re-use a directory in the user's cache, only installing the

dependencies if the directory doesn't already exist. A separate cache is

maintained for each combination of requirements specified.



``persist`` strategy can greatly improve startup performance at the expense of

staleness and accumulated cruft.



Without ``PIP_RUN_RETENTION_STRATEGY=persist`` (or with ``=destroy``),

``pip-run`` will re-install dependencies every time a script runs, silently

adding to the startup time while dependencies are installed into an ephemeral

environment, depending on how many dependencies there are and whether the

dependencies have been previously downloaded to the local pip cache. Use

``pip-run -v ...`` to see the installation activity.



The location of the cache can be revealed with this command::



    py -c 'import importlib; print(importlib.import_module("pip_run.retention.persist").paths.user_cache_path)'



Limitations

===========



- Due to limitations with ``pip``, ``pip-run`` cannot run with "editable"

  (``-e``) requirements.



- ``pip-run`` uses a ``sitecustomize`` module to ensure that ``.pth`` files

  in the requirements are installed. As a result, any environment

  that has a ``sitecustomize`` module will find that module masked

  when running under ``pip-run``.



Comparison with pipx

====================



The `pipx project `_ is another mature

project with similar goals. Both projects expose a project and its

dependencies in ephemeral environments. The main difference is pipx

primarily exposes Python binaries (console scripts) from those

environments whereas pip-run exposes a Python context (including

runpy scripts).



.. list-table::

   :widths: 30 10 10

   :header-rows: 1



   * - Feature

     - pip-run

     - pipx

   * - user-mode operation

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - invoke console scripts

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - invoke runpy modules

     - ✓

     -

   * - run standalone scripts

     - ✓

     -

   * - interactive interpreter with deps

     - ✓

     -

   * - re-use existing environment

     - ✓

     -

   * - ephemeral environments

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - persistent environments

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - PEP 582 support

     -

     - ✓

   * - Specify optional dependencies

     - ✓

     -

   * - Python 2 support

     - ✓

     -



Comparison with virtualenvwrapper mktmpenv

==========================================



The `virtualenvwrapper project `_

attempts to address some of the use-cases that pip-run solves,

especially with the ``mktmpenv`` command, which destroys the

virtualenv after deactivation. The main difference is that ``pip-run``

is transient only for the invocation of a single command, while

``mktmpenv`` lasts for a session.



.. list-table::

   :widths: 40 10 10

   :header-rows: 1



   * - Feature

     - pip-run

     - mktmpenv

   * - create temporary package environment

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - re-usable across python invocations

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - portable

     - ✓

     -

   * - one-line invocation

     - ✓

     -

   * - multiple interpreters in session

     - ✓

     -

   * - run standalone scripts

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - interactive interpreter with deps

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - re-use existing environment

     - ✓

     -

   * - ephemeral environments

     - ✓

     - ✓

   * - persistent environments

     - ✓

     - ✓



Integration

===========



The author created this package with the intention of demonstrating

the capability before integrating it directly with pip in a command

such as ``pip run``. After proposing the change, the idea was largely

rejected in `pip 3971 `_.



If you would like to see this functionality made available in pip,

please upvote or comment in that ticket.



Versioning

==========



``pip-run`` uses semver, so you can use this library with

confidence about the stability of the interface, even

during periods of great flux.



Testing

=======



Invoke tests with ``tox``.



For Enterprise

==============



Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription.



This project and the maintainers of thousands of other packages are working with Tidelift to deliver one enterprise subscription that covers all of the open source you use.



`Learn more `_.