"pip install --editable ./" vs "python setup.py develop"
Try to avoid calling setup.py
directly, it will not properly tell pip that you've installed your package.
With pip install -e
:
For local projects, the “SomeProject.egg-info” directory is created relative to the project path. This is one advantage over just using
setup.py develop
, which creates the “egg-info” directly relative the current working directory.
More: docs
Also read the setuptools' docs.
Another difference that may favor pip install -e
is that if your project has dependencies in install_requires
in setup.py
, then pip install -e .
installs dependencies with pip, while python setup.py develop
can install with easy_install
, and may cause problems re: 'egg-info' as mentioned above. When install-requires
uses dependency_links
with custom git URLs, with attached egg identifiers, this can be especially annoying.
One more difference: pip install -e
uses wheel while
python setup.py develop
doesn't use it.
With install
, you could achieve the same behavior by usingpip install -e /path/to/package --no-use-wheel
More info on wheels : python wheels