==============
gocept.package
==============

This package generates Python packages following conventions used at `gocept`_.

.. _`gocept`: http://gocept.com/

.. contents:: :depth: 1

It consists of two parts: a paster template that creates the boilerplate for a
Python package, and a Python module that is used to configure Sphinx, along
with the necessary package dependencies.

The package works with Python versions 2.5 through 2.7.


Usage
=====

To make the paster template available, install gocept.package where paster can
find it. Then run paster::

    $ paster create --template gocept-package NAMESPACE.PROJECTNAME

This will generate the boilerplate for an egg distribution, complete with
zc.buildout configuration, the skeleton of Sphinx package documentation, and a
Mercurial repository initialised. The buildout configuration is targeted at
development, so it will install a testrunner at ``bin/test`` and a
documentation builder at ``bin/doc``.


Package contents
================

This is to explain the purpose of the generated files and directories, along
with advice on which files to edit when. Many files will not need to be edited
at all.

Python distribution
-------------------

:setup.py:
    The package definition and metadata. Update this file at least whenever
    the package's version number, dependencies, entry points change.

:src:
    The source code tree of the package. Don't modify the namespace package's
    ``__init__.py`` file lest other packages in the same namespace cannot be
    imported.

Mercurial repository
--------------------

:.hg:
    The Mercurial repository is already initialised when the package has been
    created. The generated files have not been committed yet.

:.hg/hgrc:
    Repository configuration that points to the future URL of the package in
    gocept's public Mercurial hosting. Edit this (or use ``hg persona``) if
    you need to set a different author for this package than your default.

:.hgignore:
    Files and directories to be ignored by Mercurial. This includes local
    configuration and stuff expected to be generated by buildout,
    documentation builds or package releases. It does not include files
    generated by Python (such as ``*.pyc``), distribute (``*.egg-info``), or
    other more general tools like your editor, which are not specific to this
    project. Such patterns should be on your default Mercurial ignore list.

Development buildout
--------------------

:bootstrap.py:
    Creates the ``bin/buildout`` script. Run this with the same Python
    interpreter that buildout should use. No need to ever edit this file.

:buildout.cfg:
    A working buildout configuration that creates a test runner and a
    documentation builder for the package. The package itself is included as a
    develop egg and buildout is configured to use only pinned versions of any
    other packages. Edit this to configure the package's official development
    buildout but put local customisations in ``local.cfg``. Version pinnings
    go in ``versions/versions.cfg`` while this file's versions section should
    only undo pinnings of packages that are declared develop eggs by this same
    file's buildout section.

:local.cfg:
    Local customisations of the buildout configuration that are of no interest
    to other developers. This is being ignored by Mercurial. If you change
    this file, run ``bin/buildout -c local.cfg`` from then on. While this may
    sound cumbersome at first, keeping the non-local configuration in
    ``buildout.cfg`` and under version control is important for use cases such
    as testing the package on a continuous-integration server.

:versions/versions.cfg:
    Version pinning for any packages used by the buildout that are not part of
    the Zope toolkit. The version of gocept.package which is required for
    building the documentation is pinned to the same version that created the
    package files. When upgrading gocept.package later, this version pinning
    needs to be updated along with any files that have changed in the package
    template between the versions. Edit this file to pin the versions of any
    eggs required by your package or your buildout.

:versions/ztk-versions-X.Y.Z.cfg:
    A fixed release of the Zope toolkit, included in our version pinnings.
    Keeping a local copy of this allows building the buildout without network
    access. Do not edit this file.

Miscellaneous
-------------

:.coveragerc:
    Configuration for `coverage.py`_.

.. _`coverage.py`: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/coverage


General package documentation
-----------------------------

There are a number of text files to be found in the package's top-level
directory that contain standard pieces of the documentation and are therefore
expected in that place and under their particular names, and which need to be
accessible independent of Sphinx. These files need to be valid restructured
text as they are being processed by Sphinx when building the full
documentation, except for the copyright notice and license text which are
included verbatim.

:README.txt:
    An overview of the package's purpose, contents and usage which will be
    part of its PyPI page and of the documentation's index page. This should
    be kept up-to-date with the package contents at all times.

:CHANGES.txt:
    The change log that needs to be updated with any changes to the package
    that are relevant to the users of the package. The file's format is
    understood by ``zest.releaser`` and the current version of it (i.e. the
    "tip" version in the public Mercurial repository) will be pointed to from
    the PyPI page and the built package documentation.

:HACKING.txt:
    Some pointers about the package and its authors, such as the latter's
    e-mail address and the URLs of the package's documentation, PyPI page,
    issue tracker and source code as well as the current log.

:COPYRIGHT.txt:
    Copyright information for the package: copyright holder including the
    copyright years and some advice about the license used, which is the Zope
    public license, version 2.1 by default. Edit this at least to update the
    years.

:LICENSE.txt:
    A copy of the official text of the license used. Do not edit this except
    to exchange it for a different license.

Full documentation, built using Sphinx
--------------------------------------

:doc:
    Everything that is only relevant to the Sphinx-generated documentation. We
    use the suffix ``.txt`` for Sphinx input files. While a number of
    conventions exist for the contents of the ``doc`` directory, nothing bad
    will happen to the rest of the package if you modify it freely; just make
    sure it remains valid Sphinx input.

:doc/conf.py:
    Sphinx configuration. Basically all of the configuration values follow our
    conventions and are therefore imported from ``gocept.package``, so you
    must keep the import and invocation of ``gocept.package.sphinxconf``
    intact. You'll have to edit this file if you want to change something
    about the metadata or the appearance of the documentation just for this
    package. Updates to our conventions for Sphinx-generated documentation
    will be acquired by updating ``gocept.package``.

:doc/index.txt:
    The front page of the documentation. It includes the package overview from
    the top-level ``README.txt`` file and a table of contents pointing to the
    sections of the full documentation. These include generated API
    documentation, some meta information about the package and the change log.
    Edit this file if you want to add top-level sections such as a narrative
    package description.

:doc/api.txt:
    The root document of the generated API documentation. The API is
    documented semi-automatically in that you have to list in this file, under
    the ``autosummary`` directive, all the modules to be documented, which
    happens automatically from then on. A commented-out example module listing
    is included.

:doc/about.txt:
    Meta information about the package, combining the top-level files
    ``HACKING.txt``, ``COPYRIGHT.txt``, and ``LICENSE.txt``. You will not need
    to edit this file.

:doc/changes.txt:
    A stub to include the top-level file ``CHANGES.txt``. No need to edit this
    file.


Building the full documentation
===============================

The generated buildout configuration installs a script at ``bin/doc`` that
calls Sphinx to build the documentation. To run this script, your current
working directory must be the package root. The script will put the built
documentation into ``build/doc/`` (relative to the package's top-level
directory). Options passed to ``bin/doc`` will be passed on to the underlying
``sphinx-build`` command, but note that positional arguments won't work.


Sphinx configuration values
===========================

You can override the defaults from gocept.package by simply setting the
respective variables in your conf.py. The invocation of
``gocept.package.sphinxconf.set_defaults`` needs to happen at the end::

    source_suffix = '.foo'

    import gocept.package.sphinxconf
    gocept.package.sphinxconf.set_defaults()

Conversely, sphinxconf tries to use variables from ``conf.py`` to calculate
values. If these variables are specified, that must also be done before
``set_defaults`` is called. Currently, there is only one such variable:

:_year_started:
    Optional value for the year the project was started. This defaults to the
    current year (at the time of documentation building), but if it is
    specified and different from the current year, it is used to construct a
    copyright notice like "2001-2012 Author".
