Installation and Usage

Prerequisites

You need Python, at least version 3.9, you can get the latest version at python.org

Installation

Using a Virtual Environment

I highly recommend that you use a virtual environment like Virtualenv or Pipenv to check out Buildnis.

Virtualenv Setup

First install the package virtualenv using pip:

python -m pip install virtualenv

then set up a directory to use as the path for your virtual Python environment:

python -m virtualenv PATH_TO_YOUR_VENV

with PATH_TO_YOUR_VENV the directory, in which you want to install the virtual environment. This should generate a script to source (on Linux, OS X and other unixish platforms) or execute (Windows). So, call or source the script:

Windows:

PATH_TO_YOUR_VENV\Scripts\activate.bat

Unix:

source PATH_TO_YOUR_VENV/bin/activate

If you now install the packages, they’re installed in this virtual environment and can’t break your ‘real’ Python installation.

When you want to leave the virtual environment, call the script deactivate. More detailed documentation of Virtualenv you find at the Virtualenv User Guide.

Pipenv Setup

First install the package pipenv using pip:

python -m pip install pipenv

Now to activate the virtualenv (pipenv uses virtualenv), call pipenv with the argument shell

pipenv shell

To leave the environment, call exit:

exit

Installation of Buildnis

You can install Buildnis using pip (also in a virtualenv, see Virtualenv Setup) or pipenv (see Pipenv Setup).

Installation using Pip

The buildnis package package at PyPI can be installed using pip:

python -m pip install buildnis

To upgrade your installed version use

python -m pip install --upgrade buildnis

Installation using Pipenv

Using a virtual Python environment with pipenv:

pipenv install buildnis

To upgrade your installed version use

pipenv install --upgrade buildnis

No Package Installation

You can also use Buildnis without installing a package, by just copying the directory containing the Python source to into your project - that way you can also distribute Buildnis as part of your project.

To do that, copy the directory buildnis from Github and call the package from the parent directory of buildnis:

python -m buildnis

If you don’t need it or don’t want to redistribute it, you can delete the documentation directory buildnis/doc, it isn’t needed to run the program.

Usage

The best way to test Buildnis is to check out the test project from Github: Test Project on Github and run Buildnis from this directory:

python -m buildnis --generated-conf-dir conf_out test_project/project_config.json

This reads the project’s configuration test_project/project_config.json and stores all generated configurations to the directory conf_out.

If you want to delete the generated configuration files, call the program with the option --distclean:

python -m buildnis --distclean

To get an overview of all supported command-line options and arguments call Buildnis with the argument -h or --help:

python -m buildnis --help