What is the best Python library module skeleton co

Question

Many python IDE's will start you with a template like:

print 'hello world'

That's not enough... So here's my skeleton code to get this question started:

My Module Skeleton, Short Version:

#!/usr/bin/env python

"""
Module Docstring
"""

#
## Code goes here.
#

def test():
    """Testing Docstring"""
    pass

if __name__=='__main__':
    test()

and,

My Module Skeleton, Long Version:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: ascii -*-

"""
Module Docstring
Docstrings: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/
"""

__author__ = 'Joe Author ([e-mail])'
__copyright__ = 'Copyright (c) 2009-2010 Joe Author'
__license__ = 'New-style BSD'
__vcs_id__ = '$Id$'
__version__ = '1.2.3' #Versioning: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0386/

#
## Code goes here.
#

def test():
    """ Testing Docstring"""
    pass

if __name__=='__main__':
    test()

Notes (PEP 8, UTF-8):

"""
===MODULE TYPE===
Since the vast majority of my modules are "library" types, I have constructed
this example skeleton as such. For modules that act as the main entry for
running the full application, you would make changes such as running a main()
function instead of the test() function in __main__.

===VERSIONING===
The following practice, specified in PEP 8, no longer makes sense:

   __version__ = '$Revision: 1.2.3 $'

For two reasons:
    (1) Distributed version control systems make it neccessary to include more
        than just a revision number. E.g. author name and revision number.
    (2) It's a revision number not a version number.


Instead, the __vcs_id__ variable is being adopted. This expands to, for
example:
    __vcs_id__ = '$Id: example.py,v 1.1.1.1 2001/07/21 22:14:04 goodger Exp $'


===VCS DATE===
Likewise, the date variable has been removed:

    __date__ = '$Date: 2009/01/02 20:19:18 $'


===CHARACTER ENCODING===
If the coding is explicitly specified, then it should be set to the default
setting of ASCII. This can be modified if necessary (rarely in practice).
Defaulting to UTF-8 can cause anomalies with editors that have poor unicode
support.

"""

Alternate Skeleton, Long Version:

(Code adapted from DasIch's answer.)

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: ascii -*-

"""
package.module
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A description which can be long and explain the complete
functionality of this module even with indented code examples.
Class/Function however should not be documented here.

:copyright: year by my name, see AUTHORS for more details
:license: license_name, see LICENSE for more details
"""

#
## Code goes here.
#

def test():
    """ """
    pass

if __name__=='__main__':
    test()

There are a lot of PEPs that put forward coding style recommendations. Am I missing any important best practices? What is the best Python module skeleton code?

Update

Show me any kind of "best" that you prefer. Tell us what metrics you used to qualify "best".

Answer 1

Even better, here is the suggested package layout by Dr. Titus Brown:

http://github.com/ctb/SomePackage

Answer 2

It is often advisable to set

#coding=<coding>

at the second line. Like

#coding=utf8

For example. This an alternative to the verbose

# -*- coding: <encoding name> -*-

See PEP-263 for more info.

---

Edit for full answer: Depends on the situation. If its for some internal project, simpler is better. But I almost always have

def main():
    #code
    pass

if __name__=="__main__":
    main()

If I intend to publish the code, I add proper documentation and licensing terms as well as the mentioned encoding directive.

The shebang (#!/usr/bin/env python) is only necessary for the file that is meant to be the executable.