rind 0.1.0a2

A minimal PEP 517 build backend for creating metapackages

rind

Warning This package is experimental and under active development. The API may change without notice.

A minimal PEP 517 build backend to make it easy to create a metapackage that extends a core package by installing additional dependencies.

Why use rind?

Package maintainers often face a tension between two types of users:

• Typical users want recommended dependencies installed by default for the best experience, without needing to know about extras syntax like pip install mypackage[recommended]
• Advanced users (library authors, Docker image builders, CI pipelines) want minimal installations to reduce dependency conflicts, image sizes, and install times

Putting recommended dependencies behind extras places a burden on typical users to discover and use special syntax. But making them required penalizes advanced users who need lean installations.

One solution is to distribute two packages: a core package with minimal dependencies (e.g., mypackage-core) and a metapackage (e.g., mypackage) that depends on the core and adds recommended dependencies. However, this approach comes with maintenance challenges: versions must be carefully pinned, and metadata must be kept in sync.

rind eliminates this burden by letting you publish both packages from a single repository with automatic version pinning and metadata inheritance:

• mypackage-core: Minimal dependencies for advanced users
• mypackage: Batteries-included for typical users

Both provide the same import mypackage experience.

Documentation

See the documentation for information on how to use this package.

License

BSD 3-Clause License. See LICENSE for details.