Recommended way to install for development?

Apparently I have no idea how to install cclib while I’m developing anymore, because python setup.py install is simply not updating changed files in my virtualenvs.

Maybe @mcocdawc can chime in, since he helped rewrite setup.py.

[mcocdawc]

Yes and no. It works like a symlink. So as long as only the content of your files is different, there is no problem. I am not exactly sure what happens if you have different directory structures across your branches. Also compiled extensions have to be recompiled. But in 99% of your time, where you just change Python code in existing files a reinstallation is not required.

The editable installation does not automatically install dependencies. This is just from my experience. I don’t know if it is a bug or documented behavior. For these cases it is probably best to type:

pip install .
pip uninstall cclib
pip install -e .

[langner]

All of that makes sense. I asked not only because I wasn’t sure how to do it, but we need new instructions for the next time the docs get updated.

Yes… we should the docs after the recent changes.