Get the bin directory from setuptools in code

Python packages can include executable scripts that will be stuck into an appropriate directory when the package is installed (e.g. through pip). Sometimes you want to know what that directory is so you can find those scripts. The code for locating this directory is hidden in some large functions in setuptools that access various configuration.

In order to find the script path, we can use a custom install command and a “fake” distribution. This will put setuptools through its paces and make it determine the appropriate directory, without having to dig into its insides too much.

from setuptools import Distribution
from setuptools.command.install import install


class OnlyGetScriptPath(install):
    def run(self):
        self.distribution.install_scripts = self.install_scripts


def get_setuptools_script_dir():
    " Get the directory setuptools installs scripts to for current python "
    dist = Distribution({'cmdclass': {'install': OnlyGetScriptPath}})
    dist.dry_run = True  # not sure if necessary
    dist.parse_config_files()
    command = dist.get_command_obj('install')
    command.ensure_finalized()
    command.run()
    return dist.install_scripts

There’s an outside possibility that the script directory could somehow change between the installation of a package and your running this code, but it’s unlikely. Note, however, that this does depend on being run with the specific python version you want to find the bin directory for. If you want to find the directory for a different python, you’ll probably need to run this through a subprocess.