`pip index show` command which fetches the package information via the JSON API

What’s the problem this feature will solve?

Now that pip search is not working and would be removed in favour of pip index versions in #10431 , there is short description is not accessible from the command line. This is an opportunity to re-imagine the command.

Describe the solution you’d like

If numpy is installed in the environment, the following description is obtained

$ pip show numpy
Name: numpy
Version: 1.21.2
Summary: NumPy is the fundamental package for array computing with Python.
Home-page: https://www.numpy.org
Author: Travis E. Oliphant et al.
Author-email: 
License: BSD
Location: /home/avmo/.pyenv/versions/3.8.9/envs/snek/lib/python3.8/site-packages
Requires: 
Required-by: xarray, pandas, matplotlib, h5py

Say, numpy is not installed in the user environment.

$ pip show numpy
WARNING: Package(s) not found: numpy

The user would like to read the documentation, but only knows the name of the package. An output like this would be helpful

$ pip index show numpy
Name: numpy
Version: 1.21.2
Summary: NumPy is the fundamental package for array computing with Python.
Home-page: https://www.numpy.org
Author: Travis E. Oliphant et al.
Author-email: 
License: BSD
Location: < irrelevant >
Requires: 
Required-by:  < hard to deduce? >

Such an output can be populated from the JSON API

curl -s https://pypi.org/pypi/numpy/json | jq .info
{
  "author": "Travis E. Oliphant et al.",
  "author_email": "",
  "bugtrack_url": null,
  "classifiers": [
    "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
    "Intended Audience :: Developers",
    "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
    "License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License",
    "Operating System :: MacOS",
    "Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows",
    "Operating System :: POSIX",
    "Operating System :: Unix",
    "Programming Language :: C",
    "Programming Language :: Python",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
    "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering",
    "Topic :: Software Development",
    "Typing :: Typed"
  ],
  "description": "It provides:\n\n- a powerful N-dimensional array object\n- sophisticated (broadcasting) functions\n- tools for integrating C/C++ and Fortran code\n- useful linear algebra, Fourier transform, and random number capabilities\n- and much more\n\nBesides its obvious scientific uses, NumPy can also be used as an efficient\nmulti-dimensional container of generic data. Arbitrary data-types can be\ndefined. This allows NumPy to seamlessly and speedily integrate with a wide\nvariety of databases.\n\nAll NumPy wheels distributed on PyPI are BSD licensed.\n\n\n\n",
  "description_content_type": "",
  "docs_url": null,
  "download_url": "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/numpy",
  "downloads": {
    "last_day": -1,
    "last_month": -1,
    "last_week": -1
  },
  "home_page": "https://www.numpy.org",
  "keywords": "",
  "license": "BSD",
  "maintainer": "NumPy Developers",
  "maintainer_email": "[e-mail]",
  "name": "numpy",
  "package_url": "https://pypi.org/project/numpy/",
  "platform": "Windows",
  "project_url": "https://pypi.org/project/numpy/",
  "project_urls": {
    "Bug Tracker": "https://github.com/numpy/numpy/issues",
    "Documentation": "https://numpy.org/doc/1.21",
    "Download": "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/numpy",
    "Homepage": "https://www.numpy.org",
    "Source Code": "https://github.com/numpy/numpy"
  },
  "release_url": "https://pypi.org/project/numpy/1.21.2/",
  "requires_dist": null,
  "requires_python": ">=3.7,<3.11",
  "summary": "NumPy is the fundamental package for array computing with Python.",
  "version": "1.21.2",
  "yanked": false,
  "yanked_reason": null
}

Alternative Solutions

Alternatively, simply pretty print the JSON after fetching it.

Right now I use https://github.com/jeffmm/pypi-simple-search/ to mimic the old pip search behaviour.

Additional context

The inspiration for this command is how pacman in ArchLinux works.

• pacman -Qi <package>: to query an installed package for information
• pacman -Si <package>: to query the package index for information

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the PSF Code of Conduct.

[pfmoore]

I guess that begs the question of whether pip is a “package manager”. I’ve always thought of it as an “installer” rather than a broader tool. But I can see why framing it as a package manager makes sense.

[ashwinvis]

@uranusjr Then we wait for the standard.

@pfmoore Displaying package description is a common feature of all package managers (not just pacman, but apt search, cargo search, and so on). I would assume others would like to have that information before they install the package. I don’t see the benefit of a third party tool just to query the JSON API.