How to determine the name of an egg for a Python package on Github?

Question

I know I can install with

$ pip install -e git+https://git.repo/some_pkg#egg=SomePackage

but -- when I'm trying to use somebody else's package -- how do I determine what the name of the egg is?

Hidie

Answer 1

Look at the git repo, find the setup.py, setup.cfg or pyproject.toml file in the root and find what name has been set.

• In setup.py, look for the name keyword in the setup() function call.
• In setup.cfg, look for the name entry under the [metadata] section.
• If there is only a pyproject.toml file, then look for a [tool.poetry] or [tool.flit.metadata] or [project] section, and the name entry under that section. (Which section exactly depends on the packaging tool used; flint and poetry expect different sections and there may be other projects using pyproject.toml to create Python packages in future).

For example, the Pyramid project has a setup.py file, which has:

setup(
  name='pyramid',

so you'd use:

$ pip install -e git+https://github.com/Pylons/pyramid.git#egg=pyramid

Or, if you look at the FastAPI repository, then you'd find a pyproject.toml file with:

[tool.flit.metadata]
module = "fastapi"

and so you'd use

$ pip install -e git+https://github.com/tiangolo/fastapi.git#egg=fastapi

Chondroma

Could you explain what is egg and why it's needed? I tried to search for it but couldn't find any explanation. – Duala

@SanghyunLee: The Python egg format is a distribution format and standard for tracking what is installed. The #egg=<name> part tells pip under what name the project is installed so it can determine if you already have an existing installation, etc. – Chondroma

Oh, I thought it was something specific to pipenv as I found this thread through #51202015 that's why I couldn't search for what it is. Thanks a lot! – Duala

name could also be elsewhere rather than in setup.py., like in setup.cfg – Suggestive

@Goku: my answer was originally written before setup.cfg files were a thing. I've updated the answer to cover those, plus pyproject.toml files. Thanks for pointing out my answer was no longer as complete as it could be! – Chondroma

@MartijnPieters No problem- thank you for updating the answer! I just now noticed it was an old question. – Suggestive

make sure to put 'git+...' in double quotes. it can save you time searching for the error – Adoptive