envstamp

Atomic, reproducible fingerprints of installed Python distributions.

envstamp is a small stdlib-only package for recording installed package versions and content fingerprints in an atomic JSON stamp.

Installation

pip install envstamp

envstamp requires Python 3.12 or newer.

CLI

Get a stamp for one or more installed distributions and print it:

envstamp get numpy pandas

Search explicit distribution paths:

envstamp get numpy pandas --paths /path/to/site-packages

Attach string metadata by repeating --metadata:

envstamp get numpy pandas \
    --metadata service=worker \
    --metadata environment=production

Every stamp contains a metadata object, which may be empty. Its keys and values are strings, keys are stored in sorted order, and repeated CLI keys are rejected.

Atomically write the stamp to a file:

envstamp get numpy pandas --output /tmp/envstamp.json

Read the saved stamp:

envstamp read /tmp/envstamp.json

Each stamp's top-level fingerprint contains the algorithm and aggregate SHA-256 of its package records. Each package record contains its canonical name, installed version, package-level SHA-256, and the number of files included in that digest. Package records are sorted by canonical name.

Python API

import sys

from envstamp.stamp import get_stamp, read_stamp, write_stamp


stamp = get_stamp(
    ["numpy", "pandas"],
    paths=sys.path,
    metadata={"service": "worker", "environment": "production"},
)
write_stamp("/tmp/envstamp.json", stamp)

saved = read_stamp("/tmp/envstamp.json")
print(saved.fingerprint["sha256"])
for package in saved.packages:
    print(package.canonical_name, package.version, package.sha256)

Pass the distribution search paths explicitly through get_stamp(..., paths=...). Metadata does not participate in package or stamp content hashes.

envstamp supports regular, non-editable installations. It reads .dist-info/direct_url.json when present and rejects the distribution when dir_info.editable is true, because that metadata points at a mutable source tree rather than a stable installed payload.

Fingerprint protocol

The envstamp-sha256-v1 algorithm starts from each installed distribution manifest, but only includes entries that resolve inside its installation root, normally site-packages. This covers Python code, native libraries such as .so and .pyd, and package data. Distribution metadata, bytecode caches, .pth and .egg-link path files, launch scripts, and external data are excluded.

RECORD hashes are not used as an inclusion filter. When an included entry has no RECORD hash, envstamp still reads and hashes the installed file directly. If that file is missing, fingerprinting fails instead of silently producing a partial digest.

File paths are sorted before the package digest hashes the protocol tag followed by path\0sha256\0size\n records. The read buffer size does not affect the resulting digest.

Package records are sorted before the stamp digest hashes the protocol tag followed by name\0version\0sha256\0count\n records.

get_stamp() fingerprints the complete package set twice and only returns when both results are identical. If the installed environment changes while the stamp is being generated, it raises FingerprintError instead of returning a mixed snapshot.

Atomic writes

Each stamp file belongs to one writer and contains one complete stamp. A write creates a same-directory temporary file, flushes it, and atomically replaces the previous stamp file. On POSIX, readers therefore observe either the previous complete stamp or the new complete stamp. Concurrent writers to the same path are not supported; use a separate file for each process. When the stamp's parent directory does not exist, envstamp creates it with mode 0755; existing directories keep their current permissions. Completed stamp files use mode 0444. Failed writes remove their temporary file, and the next write removes any temporary file left by interruption.