⁠Chapter 4. Python Coding Guidelines

Table of Contents

⁠4.1. Python Boilerplate

If a Python file is meant to be executed (as opposed to imported), it should have a .in extension, and its first line should be:

#!@PYTHON@

which will be replaced with the appropriate python executable when Pacemaker is built. To make that happen, add an AC_CONFIG_FILES() line to configure.ac, and add the file name without .in to .gitignore (see existing examples).

After the above line if any, every Python file should start like this:

""" <BRIEF-DESCRIPTION>
"""

# Pacemaker targets compatibility with Python 2.7 and 3.2+
from __future__ import print_function, unicode_literals, absolute_import, division

__copyright__ = "Copyright <YYYY[-YYYY]> the Pacemaker project contributors"
__license__ = "<LICENSE> WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY"

<BRIEF-DESCRIPTION> is obviously a brief description of the file’s purpose. The string may contain any other information typically used in a Python file docstring.

The import statement is discussed further in Section 4.2.1, “Python Future Imports”.

<LICENSE> should follow the policy set forth in the COPYING file, generally one of "GNU General Public License version 2 or later (GPLv2+)" or "GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 or later (LGPLv2.1+)".