Building Apps: Dependencies (tclib)

Summary

The tclib CLI tool provides a simple interface to download required Python modules in a self-contained folder in the project directory. This “lib” directory allows all dependencies to be bundled within the App. The App dependencies should be defined in the requirements.txt file in the project directory.

Warning

For clients using macOS ® that have Python installed via Homebrew, there is a known bug that requires the creation of a setup.cfg file in the same directory as requirements.txt. The setup.cfg file should have the following code at minimum:

[install]
prefix=

Usage

To get the latest usage for tclib, run tclib -h.

Important

Running the tcinit command overwrites any existing “lib” directory.

usage: tclib [-h] [--app_name APP_NAME] [--app_path APP_PATH]
             [--config CONFIG] [--no_cache_dir] [--branch BRANCH]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help           Show this help message and exit
  --app_name APP_NAME  (Advanced) Fully qualified path of App.
  --app_path APP_PATH  (Advanced) Fully qualified path of App.
  --config CONFIG      (Advanced) Configuration file for gen lib. (Default:
                       tcex.json)
  --no_cache_dir       Do not use pip cache directory.
  --branch BRANCH      Build tcex from specified git branch instead of
                       downloading from PyPi.

Common Usage

To build the “lib” directory for the current project, the following is the most common command. This command can also be used to add or remove any changes made to requirements.

tclib

If using a PIP cache, it is sometimes required to tell pip to ignore the cache in order to pick up the latest package from pypi. Adding the --no_cache_dir flag to the command will force tclib to ignore any local cache directory.

tclib --no_cache_dir

Using a Configuration File

By default, the tcex.json configuration file will be loaded if it exists. If the configuration includes the lib_versions parameter array, the tclib command will use the values defined in the configuration to build the “lib” directories.

Linux

<...snipped>
"lib_versions": [{
    "lib_dir": "lib_2.7.13",
    "python_executable": "~/.pyenv/versions/2.7.13/bin/python"
  },
  {
    "lib_dir": "lib_3.4.6",
    "python_executable": "~/.pyenv/versions/3.4.6/bin/python"
  },
  {
    "lib_dir": "lib_3.5.3",
    "python_executable": "~/.pyenv/versions/3.5.3/bin/python"
  },
  {
    "lib_dir": "lib_3.6.5",
    "python_executable": "~/.pyenv/versions/3.6.5/bin/python"
  }
],
<snipped...>

For ease of management, when building multiple Apps the tcex.json file can contain environment vars defining the Python version (e.g., $env.PY36 for export PY36='3.6.5').

<...snipped>
{
  "lib_dir": "lib_$env.PY36",
  "python_executable": "~/.pyenv/versions/$env.PY36/bin/python"
}
<snipped...>

Windows

<...snipped>
{
      "lib_versions": [{
              "lib_dir": "lib_2.7.13",
              "python_executable": "~\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python27\\python.exe"
      }, {
              "lib_dir": "lib_3.6.5",
              "python_executable": "~\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python36\\python.exe"
      }]
}
<snipped...>

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