What is the best project structure for a Python ap

Question

Imagine that you want to develop a non-trivial end-user desktop (not web) application in Python. What is the best way to structure the project's folder hierarchy?

Desirable features are ease of maintenance, IDE-friendliness, suitability for source control branching/merging, and easy generation of install packages.

In particular:

1. Where do you put the source?
2. Where do you put application startup scripts?
3. Where do you put the IDE project cruft?
4. Where do you put the unit/acceptance tests?
5. Where do you put non-Python data such as config files?
6. Where do you put non-Python sources such as C++ for pyd/so binary extension modules?

Answer 1

The "Python Packaging Authority" has a sampleproject:

https://github.com/pypa/sampleproject

It is a sample project that exists as an aid to the Python Packaging User Guide's Tutorial on Packaging and Distributing Projects.

Answer 2

In my experience, it's just a matter of iteration. Put your data and code wherever you think they go. Chances are, you'll be wrong anyway. But once you get a better idea of exactly how things are going to shape up, you're in a much better position to make these kinds of guesses.

As far as extension sources, we have a Code directory under trunk that contains a directory for python and a directory for various other languages. Personally, I'm more inclined to try putting any extension code into its own repository next time around.

With that said, I go back to my initial point: don't make too big a deal out of it. Put it somewhere that seems to work for you. If you find something that doesn't work, it can (and should) be changed.