How include static files to setuptools - python package

Question

I want to include the ./static/data.txt to setuptools, here is my code:

# setup.py
import os,glob
from setuptools import setup,find_packages

setup(
    name = "PotatoProject",
    version = "0.1.1",
    author = "Master Splinter",
    author_email = "[email protected]",
    description = ("The potatoproject!"),
    url = 'http://www.google.com',
    license = "BSD",

    # adding packages
    packages=find_packages('src'),
    package_dir = {'':'src'},

    # trying to add files...
    include_package_data = True,
    package_data = {
        '': ['*.txt'],
        '': ['static/*.txt'],
        'static': ['*.txt'],
    },

    scripts=['src/startPotato'],
    classifiers=[
        "Development Status :: 3 - Alpha",
        "Topic :: Utilities",
        "License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License",
    ],
)

The file system:

.
├── setup.py
└── src
    ├── distutils_setup.py
    ├── Potato
    │   ├── __init__.py
    │   ├── potatoData.txt
    │   └── printer.py
    ├── startPotato
    ├── static
    │   └── data.txt
    └── Tomato
        ├── big.py
        └── __init__.py

the output when running: python setup.py sdist

running sdist
running egg_info
creating src/PotatoProject.egg-info
writing src/PotatoProject.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing top-level names to src/PotatoProject.egg-info/top_level.txt
writing dependency_links to src/PotatoProject.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
writing manifest file 'src/PotatoProject.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
reading manifest file 'src/PotatoProject.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
writing manifest file 'src/PotatoProject.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
warning: sdist: standard file not found: should have one of README, README.txt

creating PotatoProject-0.1.1
creating PotatoProject-0.1.1/src
creating PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/Potato
creating PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/PotatoProject.egg-info
creating PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/Tomato
making hard links in PotatoProject-0.1.1...
hard linking setup.py -> PotatoProject-0.1.1
hard linking src/startPotato -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src
hard linking src/Potato/__init__.py -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/Potato
hard linking src/Potato/printer.py -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/Potato
hard linking src/PotatoProject.egg-info/PKG-INFO -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/PotatoProject.egg-info
hard linking src/PotatoProject.egg-info/SOURCES.txt -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/PotatoProject.egg-info
hard linking src/PotatoProject.egg-info/dependency_links.txt -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/PotatoProject.egg-info
hard linking src/PotatoProject.egg-info/top_level.txt -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/PotatoProject.egg-info
hard linking src/Tomato/__init__.py -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/Tomato
hard linking src/Tomato/big.py -> PotatoProject-0.1.1/src/Tomato
Writing PotatoProject-0.1.1/setup.cfg
creating dist
Creating tar archive
removing 'PotatoProject-0.1.1' (and everything under it)

and no txt added! No static/data.txt nor Potato/potatoData.txt...

What am I missing?!

Answer 1

As pointed out in the comments, there are 2 ways to add the static files:

1 - include_package_data=True + MANIFEST.in

A MANIFEST.in file in the same directory of setup.py that looks like this:

include src/static/*
include src/Potato/*.txt

With include_package_data = True in setup.py.

2 - package_data in setup.py

package_data = {
    'static': ['*'],
    'Potato': ['*.txt']
}

Specify the files inside the setup.py.

---

Do not use both include_package_data and package_data in setup.py.

include_package_data will nullify the package_data information.

https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/setuptools.html#including-data-files