Moving from conda to pip packaging has broken our plugin installation route (plugins drop files in the distribution /etc folder). Running into this tying to bring ch-shrinkwrap builds up to date (python-microscopy/ch-shrinkwrap#29).
It sounds like the best way to fix it would be to use importlib.metadata (see AI generated info below)
The canonical resource is the Python Packaging User Guide's plugin guide: https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/guides/creating-and-discovering-plugins/ — the "Using Package Metadata" section covers exactly this pattern.
And the stdlib docs: https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.metadata.html#entry-points
How it would work for PYME:
The plugin package (ch-shrinkwrap) declares entry points in pyproject.toml:
[project.entry-points."pyme.plugins.recipes"]
ch_shrinkwrap = "ch_shrinkwrap.recipe_modules.surface_fitting"
ch_shrinkwrap_features = "ch_shrinkwrap.recipe_modules.surface_feature_extraction"
[project.entry-points."pyme.plugins.visgui"]
ch_shrinkwrap = "ch_shrinkwrap.visgui_modules.shrinkwrap"
PYME's startup code replaces the .txt file scanning with:
from importlib.metadata import entry_points
for ep in entry_points(group='pyme.plugins.recipes'):
ep.load() # imports the module, triggering any registration side-effectsThe metadata lives in the wheel's dist-info/ directory and is available immediately after pip install — no user action, no file copying, works identically for editable and non-editable installs.
Precedent to study: pytest's pytest11 group is the most widely known example of this pattern. Sphinx uses sphinx.builders, sphinx.directives etc. Both are worth looking at for how they handle errors when a plugin fails to load.
Backward compat note: entry_points(group=...) keyword syntax requires Python 3.9+ or importlib_metadata backport. For older Python, the older API is entry_points().get('pyme.plugins.recipes', []).
Moving from conda to pip packaging has broken our plugin installation route (plugins drop files in the distribution /etc folder). Running into this tying to bring
ch-shrinkwrapbuilds up to date (python-microscopy/ch-shrinkwrap#29).It sounds like the best way to fix it would be to use
importlib.metadata(see AI generated info below)The canonical resource is the Python Packaging User Guide's plugin guide: https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/guides/creating-and-discovering-plugins/ — the "Using Package Metadata" section covers exactly this pattern.
And the stdlib docs: https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.metadata.html#entry-points
How it would work for PYME:
The plugin package (ch-shrinkwrap) declares entry points in
pyproject.toml:PYME's startup code replaces the
.txtfile scanning with:The metadata lives in the wheel's
dist-info/directory and is available immediately afterpip install— no user action, no file copying, works identically for editable and non-editable installs.Precedent to study: pytest's
pytest11group is the most widely known example of this pattern. Sphinx usessphinx.builders,sphinx.directivesetc. Both are worth looking at for how they handle errors when a plugin fails to load.Backward compat note:
entry_points(group=...)keyword syntax requires Python 3.9+ orimportlib_metadatabackport. For older Python, the older API isentry_points().get('pyme.plugins.recipes', []).