qgis-plugin-dev-tools

QGIS plugin development and packaging tools, which make managing runtime dependencies easy.

Prerequisites

Your plugin package must be available to import from the python environment this tool is run in. For example, running python -c "import your_plugin_package_name" should not fail. Additionally, any dependency libraries must also be available in the python environment, so a dependency to some_pypi_package needs something like pip install some_pypi_package for this tool to work.

Limitations

Bundling works by copying the code as-is and replacing the imports in all bundled files, so native library dependencies and other special cases might not work. To be safe, only depend on pure python libraries. Also verify the result zip works, since some import statements or sys.modules usage might not be supported.

Setup

Install this library with pip install qgis-plugin-dev-tools.

Create a pyproject.toml tool section:

[tool.qgis_plugin_dev_tools]
plugin_package_name = "your_plugin_package_name"

If the plugin runtime depends on external libraries, add the distribution names to runtime_requires list as abstract dependencies.

[tool.qgis_plugin_dev_tools]
plugin_package_name = "your_plugin_package_name"
runtime_requires = [
    "some_pypi_package"
]

If the plugin runtime dependencies have many dependencies themselves, it is possible to include those recursively with auto_add_recursive_runtime_dependencies. Alternatively, all the requirements can be listed in runtime_requires.

[tool.qgis_plugin_dev_tools]
plugin_package_name = "your_plugin_package_name"
runtime_requires = [
    "some_pypi_package"
]
auto_add_recursive_runtime_dependencies = true

If the plugin runtime dependencies do not work with the aforementioned configuration, the dependencies can be added to the Python Path with use_dangerous_vendor_sys_path_append flag. This method might be unsafe if there are conflicts between dependency versions of different plugins.

[tool.qgis_plugin_dev_tools]
plugin_package_name = "your_plugin_package_name"
runtime_requires = [
    "some_pypi_package_with_binary_files"
]
use_dangerous_vendor_sys_path_append = true

By default build version number is read from changelog top-most second level heading having format ## version anything. This behaviour is configurable with version_number_source to use plugin package distribution metadata. Optionally, the version number can also be provided as an argument for the build script using qpdt b --version 0.1.0-rc2.

[tool.qgis_plugin_dev_tools]
plugin_package_name = "your_plugin_package_name"
version_number_source = "distribution"  # or "changelog" (default if missing)

Plugin packaging

Run qgis-plugin-dev-tools build (short qpdt b) to package the plugin and any runtime dependencies to a standard QGIS plugin zip file, that can be installed and published.

By default config is read from pyproject.toml, changelog notes from CHANGELOG.md, version from changelog, and package is created in a dist directory in the current working directory. Changelog contents and version number are inserted to the metadata.txt file, so the version and changelog sections do not need manual updates.

Plugin publishing

Run qgis-plugin-dev-tools publish <file> (short qpdt publish <file>) to publish a previously built plugin zip file to QGIS plugin repository.

By default username and password are read from QPDT_PUBLISH_USERNAME and QPDT_PUBLISH_PASSWORD environment variables.

Plugin development mode

Run qgis-plugin-dev-tools start (short qpdt s) to launch QGIS with the plugin installed and ready for development.

By default config is read from pyproject.toml and runtime config from .env in the current working directory. Extra environment files can be passed using -e flag. .env must configure the executable path, and may configure debugger, profile name and any extra runtime variables necessary for the plugin.

QGIS_EXECUTABLE_PATH= # path to qgis-bin/qgis-bin-ltr or .exe equivalents, necessary
# DEBUGGER_LIBRARY= # debugpy/pydevd to start a debugger on init, library must be installed to the environment
# DEVELOPMENT_PROFILE_NAME= # name of the profile that qgis is launched with, otherwise uses default
# QGIS_LOCALE= # locale code of QGIS, otherwise uses default
# QGIS_GUI_INI= # path to ini file containing QGIS UI customizations

# any other variables are added to the runtime QGIS environment
# SOMETHING=something

Development mode bootstraps the launched QGIS to have access to any packages available to the launching python environment, setups enviroment variables, configures a debugger, and installs and enables the developed plugin package.

Additionally editable installs for the plugin dependencies are supported. For example with a dependency to some_pypi_package, use pip install -e /path/to/some_pypi_package to provide some_pypi_package in editable mode from a local directory, and use Plugin Reloader to refresh new code when its changed on disk. This will also reload the declared dependencies.

Developing multiple plugins

Development mode also enables using and developing multiple plugins easily if certain requirements are satisfied for all extra plugins:

• Extra plugin must be installable python packages
  • See e.g. Quickstart for setuptools
• Extra plugin must have entry point in group "qgis_plugin_dev_tools"
  • See for example: Entry point usage with setuptools
  • Use plugin package name for entry point name
• Extra plugin needs to be installed in the same python environment where this tool is run in

Extra plugins are loaded on launch and reloaded together with the main plugin if Plugin Reloader is used.

You can disable plugin auto-load by using pyproject.toml configuration (for example when using a dependency, that also provides a plugin entrypoint):

[tool.qgis_plugin_dev_tools]
disabled_extra_plugins = [
  "unwanted_plugin_package_name",
]

Development of qgis-plugin-dev-tools

See development readme.

License & copyright

Licensed under GNU GPL v3.0.

Copyright (C) 2022 National Land Survey of Finland.