How to write setup.py to include a Git repository as a dependency

Note: this answer is now outdated. Have a look at this answer for up-to-date instructions: https://stackoverflow.com/a/54701434/212774

After digging through the pip issue 3939 linked by @muon in the comments above and then the PEP-508 specification, I found success getting my private repo dependency to install via setup.py using this specification pattern in install_requires (no more dependency_links):

install_requires = [
  'some-pkg @ git+ssh://git@github.com/someorgname/pkg-repo-name@v1.1#egg=some-pkg',
]

The @v1.1 indicates the release tag created on github and could be replaced with a branch, commit, or different type of tag.

This answer has been updated as Python has evolved over the years.

Scroll to the bottom for the most current answer, or read through to see how this has evolved.

Unfortunately the accepted answer does not work with private repositories, which is one of the most common use cases for this.

2019 - dependency_links (deprecated as of pip v19+)

I eventually did get it working with a setup.py file that looks like this method:

from setuptools import setup, find_packages

setup(
    name = 'MyProject',
    version = '0.1.0',
    url = '',
    description = '',
    packages = find_packages(),
    install_requires = [
        # Github Private Repository - needs entry in `dependency_links`
        'ExampleRepo'
    ],

    dependency_links=[
        # Make sure to include the `#egg` portion so the `install_requires` recognizes the package
        'git+ssh://git@github.com/example_org/ExampleRepo.git#egg=ExampleRepo-0.1'
    ]
)

Newer versions of pip make this even easier by removing the need to use "dependency_links"-

from setuptools import setup, find_packages

setup(
    name = 'MyProject',
    version = '0.1.0',
    url = '',
    description = '',
    packages = find_packages(),
    install_requires = [
        # Github Private Repository
        'ExampleRepo @ git+ssh://git@github.com/example_org/ExampleRepo.git#egg=ExampleRepo-0.1'
    ]
)

However, with the very latest pip you'll run into issues with the EGG format handler. This is because while the egg is ignored pip is now doing direct URL matching and will consider two URLs, one with the egg fragment and the other without, to be completely different versions even if they point to the same package. As such it's best to leave any egg fragments off.

2021 June - setup.py

So, the best way (current to June 2021) to add a dependency from Github to your setup.py that will work with public and private repositories:

from setuptools import setup, find_packages

setup(
    name = 'MyProject',
    version = '0.1.0',
    url = '',
    description = '',
    packages = find_packages(),
    install_requires = [
        # Github Private Repository
        'ExampleRepo @ git+ssh://git@github.com/example_org/ExampleRepo.git'
    ]
)

2022 February - setup.cfg

Apparently setup.py is being deprecated (although my guess is it'll be around for awhile) and setup.cfg is the new thing.

[metadata]
name = MyProject
version = 0.1.1


[options]
packages = :find

install_requires =
  ExampleRepo @ git+ssh://git@github.com/example_org/ExampleRepo.git

2022 June - pyproject.toml

setup.cfg is already "pre" deprecated. as setuptools now has experimental support for pyproject.toml files.

This is the future, but since this is still experimental it should not be used in real projects for now. Even though setup.cfg is on its way out you should use it for a declarative format, otherwise setup.py is still the way to go. This answer will be updated when setuptools has stabilized their support of the new standard.

2023 January - pyproject.toml

It is now possible to define all of your dependencies in pyproject.toml. Other options such as setup.cfg still work.

[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools", "setuptools-scm"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"

[project]
dependencies = [
    'ExampleRepo @ git+ssh://git@github.com/example_org/ExampleRepo.git',
]

[project.optional-dependencies]
dev = ['ExtraExample @ git+ssh://git@github.com/example_org/ExtraExample.git']

2024 April

At this point the pyproject.toml file is the standard. There is literally no reason to use setup.cfg or setup.py (but they still work). If you are using them you should consolidate to a single pyproject.toml file.

Note: this answer is now outdated. Have a look at this answer for up-to-date instructions: https://stackoverflow.com/a/54701434/212774

You can find the right way to do it here.

dependency_links=['http://github.com/user/repo/tarball/master#egg=package-1.0']

The key is not to give a link to a Git repository, but a link to a tarball. GitHub creates a tarball of the master branch for you if you append /tarball/master as shown above.

A more general answer: To get the information from the requirements.txt file I do:

from setuptools import setup, find_packages
from os import path

loc = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))

with open(loc + '/requirements.txt') as f:
    requirements = f.read().splitlines()

required = []
dependency_links = []

# Do not add to required lines pointing to Git repositories
EGG_MARK = '#egg='
for line in requirements:
    if line.startswith('-e git:') or line.startswith('-e git+') or \
            line.startswith('git:') or line.startswith('git+'):
        line = line.lstrip('-e ')  # in case that is using "-e"
        if EGG_MARK in line:
            package_name = line[line.find(EGG_MARK) + len(EGG_MARK):]
            repository = line[:line.find(EGG_MARK)]
            required.append('%s @ %s' % (package_name, repository))
            dependency_links.append(line)
        else:
            print('Dependency to a git repository should have the format:')
            print('git+ssh://git@github.com/xxxxx/xxxxxx#egg=package_name')
    else:
        required.append(line)

setup(
    name='myproject',  # Required
    version='0.0.1',  # Required
    description='Description here....',  # Required
    packages=find_packages(),  # Required
    install_requires=required,
    dependency_links=dependency_links,
)