How do I make a zope package?

After installing your instance it is time to start to develop new zope packages with the functionality that your site needs. As usual, you start at ~/myenv and source the activation script:

    $ cd ~/myenv
    $ source bin/activate

Now you create and initialize the directory for your development package:

    $ mkdir mypackage
    $ cd mypackage
    $ buildout init

The last command creates the basic structure of a buildout directory. You have to finish the work:

    # prepare this folder for setuptools
    $ touch setup.py
    # create the source folder
    $ mkdir -p src/mypackage
    # and make it a package
    $ touch src/mypackage/__init__.py

You'll need a buildout.cfg. Here is a typical one for a development package:

    [buildout]
    develop = .
    parts = test

    [test]
    recipe = zc.recipe.testrunner
    eggs = mypackage [test]

This configuration will create a command test under the bin folder which will execute all the tests for your package.

You'll need a setup.py file too.Of course, you should study setuptools first, but this one is good enough to start hacking:

    import os
    from setuptools import setup, find_packages

    def read(*rnames):
    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), *rnames)).read()

    setup (
        name='mypackage',
        version='0.1',
        author = "Willie H. Hacker",
        author_email = "willie@acme.com",
        description = "A good package",
        license = "GPL",
        keywords = "zope3",
        classifiers = [
            'Environment :: Web Environment',
            'Intended Audience :: Developers',
            'Programming Language :: Python',
            'Natural Language :: English',
            'Operating System :: OS Independent',
            'Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP',
            'Framework :: Zope3'],
        packages = find_packages('src'),
        include_package_data = True,
        package_dir = {'':'src'},
        extras_require = dict(
            test = [
                'zope.testing',
                'zope.app.container [test]',
            ],
        ),
        install_requires = [
            'setuptools',
            'zope.interface',
            'ZODB3',
            'zope.schema',
            'zope.app.container',
            'zope.app.content',
            'zope.dublincore',
            ],
        dependency_links =
            ['http://download.zope.org/distribution'],
        zip_safe = False,
    )

Of course, you'll have to edit some fields, like name, author and, more important the install_requires.