pass build_ext options to pip install

Question

Is there some way to pass build_ext options to pip install to alter how an extension included in a package is compiled? (Yes, I know that one can download the source and build/install with a custom setup.cfg, but I'm curious whether it is possible to pass options that can be specified in setup.cfg directly through pip.)

score 19 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

It's possible using pip --global-option=build_ext.

For example this is requirements.txt for Pillow with PNG and JPEG support and no other external libraries:

pillow \
        --global-option="build_ext" \
        --global-option="--enable-zlib" \
        --global-option="--enable-jpeg" \
        --global-option="--disable-tiff" \
        --global-option="--disable-freetype" \
        --global-option="--disable-tcl" \
        --global-option="--disable-tk" \ 
        --global-option="--disable-lcms" \
        --global-option="--disable-webp" \
        --global-option="--disable-webpmux" \
        --global-option="--disable-jpeg2000"

This is really an abuse of pip --global-option, inspired by this answer, as build_ext is a pip command and not really a global pip option. But this would make pip to execute two commands — first build_ext and then install — like this:

pip \
    build_ext \
        --enable-zlib --enable-jpeg \
        --disable-tiff --disable-freetype --disable-tcl --disable-tk \
        --disable-lcms --disable-webp --disable-webpmux --disable-jpeg2000 \
    install pillow

Excellent. Works like charm. – Jaap Versteegh Aug 20 '15 at 13:13 — Jaap Versteegh, Aug 20 '15 at 13:13
pip build_ext doesn't work for me at this time. – imba-tjd May 16 '21 at 06:22 — imba-tjd, May 16 '21 at 06:22

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 04 '15 at 22:42

12

You can create .pydistutils.cfg file in your home directory and override build options like you could do with custom setup.cfg, but without need to unpack package first.

So, for example, you can write something like this to alter include & lib search path:

[build_ext]
include_dirs=/usr/local/include
library_dirs=/usr/local/lib64
rpath=/usr/local/lib64

edited Mar 04 '15 at 22:42

ACyclic

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answered Oct 08 '13 at 16:51

toriningen

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Funny that I've googled up my own answer after completely forgetting I once knew this. – toriningen Aug 14 '17 at 19:52

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 09 '13 at 15:20

I searched for such option in pip and found none (searched the source too).

I don't think there is no such option in easy_install/setuptools too.

The only solution I see is an old-school way:

download / unpack / setup.py build_ext [options] / setup.py install.

pass build_ext options to pip install

3 Answers3