About Dependencies#

Dependencies are an important part of any software project, and they can significantly affect the development process. In this section, we will discuss the dependencies used in our project, how to manage them, and best practices for keeping them up to date.

Managing Dependencies#

Dependencies in DataLab Project are defined in the pyproject.toml file, as officially recommended by the Python packaging authority (see Writing your pyproject.toml).

The pyproject.toml file contains many sections, but the most relevant for dependencies are:

  • [project.dependencies]: This section lists the direct dependencies of the application. These are the packages that the application needs to run.

  • [project.optional-dependencies]: This section lists optional dependencies that can be installed to enable additional features. These dependencies are not required for the core functionality of the application but can enhance its capabilities.

Among the optional dependencies, we have the following groups:

  • qt: Qt-based graphical user interface (currently, PyQt5).

  • opencv: computer vision tasks requiring OpenCV.

  • dev: development and testing (linters, formatters, etc.).

  • doc: building the documentation (Sphinx, etc.).

  • test: running the tests (pytest, etc.).

Deploying Dependencies#

Production#

In production, we recommend using the package manager that is most suitable for your environment and that you are most comfortable with. All package managers (e.g., pip, conda) are directly or indirectly using the information from the pyproject.toml file to install the dependencies.

See Installation for more information on how to install DataLab and its dependencies.

Development#

In development, you may also use the requirements text file to make it easier to install the dependencies in a virtual environment or container.

The requirements.txt file lists all the dependencies needed for the project, including both direct and optional dependencies. This is the exact list of dependencies that are defined in the pyproject.toml file, but formatted for use with pip or other package managers that support requirements files.

Note

The requirements file is generated from the pyproject.toml file using a tool provided by the guidata package.

python -m guidata.utils.genreqs txt  # to generate requirements.txt

Adding New Dependencies#

When adding new dependencies to the project, please follow these rules:

  1. If it is a direct dependency, that is a package that the application needs to run, add it to the [project.dependencies] section in the pyproject.toml file, and specify the version range that is compatible with the application, in order to avoid breaking changes.

  2. If it is an optional dependency, that is a package that can be installed to enable additional features, add it to the appropriate section in the [project.optional-dependencies] section in the pyproject.toml file.

  • For the dev dependencies, unless it’s absolutely necessary, do not specify a version range, as it may limit the ability to use the latest version of the package.

  • For the other optional dependencies, specify the version range that is compatible with the application, in order to avoid breaking changes.

Note

In other words, except for the dev dependencies, always specify a version range that is compatible with the application.