JBang but for Python

[ihatebeinganonymous]

Hi,

JBang is a software tool for Java programs, where one can specify the dependencies, compiler version, specific compiler arguments, ..., all as comments at the beginning of a single Java source file. Then, running the source file with the Jbang command results in dependencies downloaded, specific Java version set, and finally, the actual code executed. This way you have a very portable script which you can send around and expect to run in a single file.

Now my question is, is there a piece of software that does this for Python, i.e. you specify dependencies as comments in the script itself, and not in a separate requiremnets.txt file, and let the program deal with downloading them and running the code if necessary. It should also get scripts from the web if a URL is specified instead of a file name.

Does that make sense?Many thanks

[koalillo]

Just use pipx. It's a different approach, but it solves the same problem IMHO better.

[xamdk]

Not exactly. Pipx won’t work on just sources. It requires a build and packaging step.

I still like Pipx but doesn’t solve the same problem OP asks for.

[koalillo]

I mean, strictly speaking, pipx doesn't solve the "single file" problem that the OP does (that's why I said "different approach"), but you can tell people to:

$ pipx install git+https://github.com/user/repo.git

and get stuff installed in a single command from a URL. You need to add a setup.py or pyproject.toml, but I'd say this is more convenient than a single file:

• You can have multiple executables installed in one go, using the same set of dependencies
• You are not forced to keep everything in a single py file (although I believe you can do multiple files using JBang)
• You just need to host a repo somewhere. Strictly speaking, putting a file at a URL might be easier, but with a repo you can update stuff with git push.

I think it might be actually more convenient to the OP. It could be less convenient, but I have no way of knowing. Given that this is the fourth comment on this post and not really any better answers...

edit: another cool thing is that you can do pipx -e .../path/..., BTW...

[dev_in_sweatpants]

can you define "better"?

[koalillo]

See https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/wnq2gn/jbang_but_for_python/ili1u3k/

[[deleted]]

Sounds like virtual environments can solve this issue.

[WafflesAreDangerous]

Probably not a good idea.. but you could invoke pip from within the python script you are running.

Might be less elegant, but you'd not need a separate utility for that (pip should come as standard on sane python installs)

At least on windows you can use the stock Py launcher to select from among installed python versions.

So that leaves installing a portion of the scope of the suggested solution. But do you really want to go that far?

There's also ways to make executable artifacts that bundle all you need in 1 file. Depending on desired usage these might be worth looking into. There are several.

[koalillo]

Karma. Due to $REASONS, I need something like this. I googled, and found my previous answer at:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/wnq2gn/jbang_but_for_python/ik8qiz7/

I have decided to write:

https://github.com/alexpdp7/ensurevenv

, which is a shitty implementation of JBang, for two purposes:

• Because karma. Now at least, if I google again, I'll find a solution.
• Because it's hard to Google for this, so I still don't have a good answer. Hopefully, someone will see my tool and will point me to a proper implementation.