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Build and install the wheel in a clean environment
A wheel is a built distribution; installing it is a separate step from building it. The Python Packaging User Guide recommends python -m build --wheel to create one. Then install the resulting archive—not the project directory—using pip. See the Packaging User Guide and pip’s install documentation.
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From the project root, build the wheel:
python -m build --wheel. The output is normally written underdist/; use the actual filename produced for your project.What’s actually slowing this PC down?
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Create and activate a temporary virtual environment using your platform’s usual Python commands. Install the test dependencies into this environment so the test run uses a known interpreter and dependency set.
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Install the built wheel by its exact path:
python -m pip install dist/project-version.whl. Replace the example filename with the wheel that was just built. Do not substitutepip install -e .: editable installs intentionally expose in-place source changes and do not verify the ordinary wheel installation path.
Build and test with a wheel compatible with the test environment. Compiled extensions and other platform-specific contents may require a matching operating system, architecture, and Python version.
Run pytest without letting the checkout win imports
Installing the wheel does not guarantee that Python will import it. Pytest’s default prepend import mode places test-module directories at the beginning of sys.path, and test layout can make the repository root or source tree importable. In addition, python -m pytest adds the current working directory to sys.path. Running it from a flat-layout project root can therefore expose the checkout package. Pytest describes these behaviors in its Python path and import modes documentation.
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For this check, run the test command from a location that does not make the source package importable ahead of the environment’s installed package. Do not set
PYTHONPATHor pytest’spythonpathoption to the package source directory. -
Consider pytest’s
appendorimportlibmode when appropriate. In documented layouts,appendcan let an installed package resolve when the local package shares its import root;importlibimports test modules without changingsys.path. These modes affect test-module imports, so neither is a universal fix for a checkout that remains exposed through the working directory or other path configuration.
Use the project’s configured test command and keep the test files available to it, while checking that their location and configuration do not add the source package ahead of the installed copy. The right working directory and import mode depend on the project layout; no single pytest flag proves by itself that the wheel was tested.
Verify which package the test process imports
As a diagnostic, inspect the imported package from the same virtual environment and under the same working-directory and path conditions used by pytest:
python -c "import your_package; print(your_package.__file__)"Replace your_package with the package’s import name. The printed path should be inside the virtual environment’s installation location, not under the repository checkout. You can also inspect your_package.__spec__.origin. This check is useful only when run with the relevant test layout and configuration in place; a separate command with different path conditions does not establish where pytest’s process will import from.
Use tox when you want a repeatable installed-package test
Pytest documents tox as a way to run tests in virtual environments against the installed package and catch packaging glitches. Configure the tox environment to install the wheel artifact being checked, then run the project’s tests there. Inspect the configuration to ensure it installs that artifact rather than installing the working tree as an editable package. See pytest’s good integration practices.
Why test the wheel separately from the source
Source-tree and editable tests are useful for fast development feedback: they exercise changes without rebuilding and reinstalling after every edit. An installed-wheel test answers a different question—whether the built distribution includes the files and metadata needed by a normal installation.
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Avoid the deprecated setup.py build command
Use python -m build --wheel, not python setup.py bdist_wheel. The Packaging User Guide deprecates using setup.py as a command-line interface and recommends the build frontend instead. This does not mean a setup.py file cannot remain a valid Setuptools configuration file; the deprecated practice is invoking its commands directly. See Packaging User Guide: Is setup.py deprecated?.
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