What is dh-virtualenv

dh-virtualenv is a tool that aims to combine Debian packaging with self-contained virtualenv based Python deployments. To do this, the package extends debhelper’s sequence by providing a new command in sequence, dh_virtualenv, which effectively replaces following commands from the sequence:

• dh_auto_install
• dh_python2
• dh_pycentral
• dh_pysupport

In the sequence the dh_virtualenv is inserted right after dh_perl.

Changelog

Following list contains most notable changes by version. For full list consult the git history of the project.

1.0

• Backwards incompatible Change the default install root to /opt/venvs. This is due to the old installation root (/usr/share/python) clashing with Debian provided Python utilities. To maintain the old install location, use DH_VIRTUALENV_INSTALL_ROOT and point it to /usr/share/python.
• Backwards incompatible By default, do not run setup.py test upon building. The --no-test flag has no longer has any effect. To get the old behaviour, use the --setuptools-test flag instead.
• Backwards incompatible Buildsystem: Move files into build folder in install step instead of build step. Thanks to Ludwig Hähne for the patch!
• Deprecate --pypi-url in favour of --index-url
• Support upgrading pip to the latest release with --upgrade-pip flag.
• Buildsystem: Add support for DH_UPGRADE_PIP, DH_UPGRADE_SETUPTOOLS and DH_UPGRADE_WHEEL. Thanks to Kris Kvilekval for the implementation!
• Buildsystem: Add support for custom requirements file location using DH_REQUIREMENTS_FILE and for custom pip command line arguments using DH_PIP_EXTRA_ARGS. Thanks to Einar Forselv for implementing!
• Fixing shebangs now supports multiple interpreters. Thanks Javier Santacruz!
• Allow a custom pip executable via --pip-tool flag. Thanks Anthony Sottile for the implementation!
• Fix handling of shebang lines for cases where interpreter was wrapped in quotes. Thanks to Kamil Niechajewicz for fixing!
• Support extra arguments to be passed at virtualenv using --extra-virtualenv-arg. Thanks to Julien Duponchelle for the fix.

0.11

• Allow passing explicit filename for requirements.txt using --requirements option. Thanks to Eric Larson for implementing!
• Ensure that venv is configured before starting any daemons. Thanks to Chris Lamb for fixing this!
• Make sure fix_activate_path updates all activate scripts. Thanks to walrusVision for fixing this!

0.10

• Backwards incompatible Fix installation using the built-in virtual environment on 3.4. This might break installation on Python versions prior to 3.4 when using --builtin-venv flag. Thanks to Elonen for fixing!
• Honor DH_VIRTUALENV_INSTALL_ROOT in build system. Thanks to Ludwig Hähne for implementing!
• Allow overriding virtualenv arguments by using the DH_VIRTUALENV_ARGUMENTS environment variable when using the build system. Thanks to Ludwig Hähne for implementing!
• Add option to skip installation of the actual project. In other words using --skip-install installs only the dependencies of the project found in requirements.txt. Thanks to Phillip O’Donnell for implementing!
• Support custom installation suffix instead of the package name via --install-suffix. Thanks to Phillip O’Donnell for implementing!

0.9

• Support using system packages via a command line flag --use-system-packages. Thanks to Wes Mason for implementing this feature!
• Introduce a new, experimental, more modular build system. See the Building packages with dh-virtualenv for documentation.
• Respect the DEB_NO_CHECK environment variable.

0.8

• Support for running triggers upon host interpreter update. This new feature makes it possible to upgrade the host Python interpreter and avoid breakage of all the virtualenvs installed with dh-virtualenv. For usage, see the the Tutorial. Huge thanks to Jürgen Hermann for implementing this long wanted feature!
• Add support for the built-in venv module. Thanks to Petri Lehtinen!
• Allow custom pip flags to be passed via the --extra-pip-arg flag. Thanks to @labeneator for the feature.

0.7

• Backwards incompatible Support running tests. This change breaks builds that use distutils. For those cases a flag --no-test needs to be passed.
• Add tutorial to documentation
• Don’t crash on debbuild parameters -i and -a
• Support custom source directory (debhelper’s flag -D)

0.6

First public release of dh-virtualenv