package_data files with executable permissions

Question

I am using distutils to create a Python (2) package installer. In my package are a couple of binary executable that get called from my Python code. I am listing these as package_data in my setup.py file so they get installed along with the package. However, distutils does not copy the executable permission bit on these files when they are installed. Is there a way to force distutils to install package_data files with executable permissions?

Answer 1

Figured it out based on some other SO answers - the following works:

class my_install_lib(distutils.command.install_lib.install_lib):
  def run(self):
    distutils.command.install_lib.install_lib.run(self)
    for fn in self.get_outputs():
      if <this is one of the binaries I want to be executable>:
        # copied from distutils source - make the binaries executable
        mode = ((os.stat(fn).st_mode) | 0555) & 07777
        distutils.log.info("changing mode of %s to %o", fn, mode)
        os.chmod(fn, mode)

and then pass cmdclass={'install_lib':my_install_lib} to setup.

Answer 2

You could also use setuptools instead of distutils. The setuptools preserves the file modes of the package_data files, whereas distutils doesn't.