Michael Hoffman wrote: > Steven W. Orr wrote: >> On Saturday, Apr 21st 2007 at 19:18 +0100, quoth Michael Hoffman: >> >> =>Chris Lasher wrote: >> =>> Should a Python module not intended to be executed have shebang/ >> =>> hashbang (e.g., "#!/usr/bin/env python") or not? I'm used to having a >> =>> shebang in every .py file but I recently heard someone argue that >> =>> shebangs were only appropriate for Python code intended to be >> =>> executable (i.e., run from the command line). >> => >> =>Personally I include it in all of them, as part of boilerplate in a >> =>template. >> >> I'd recommend againt it. The shebang doesn't do you any good unless it's >> also in the presence of a file that has its executable bit set. > > It doesn't do any bad either, so I don't understand why you would > recommend against it. > > And the bash function I use to create new files from the template also > does chmod a+x. > > Not to mention that I have emacs set such that things with shebangs at > the top are automatically chmod a+x, so in my programming environment, > having a shebang on files I create and being executable are one and the > same. > >> For example, let's leave python out for a second: I have a shell script. >> And I also have lots of files which are not intended to be executed which >> are also shell scripts, but which are sucked in by the shell "." or >> "source" command (which is *somewhat* analogous to python's import). Lots >> of these shell "library" scripts can't execute as standalone. The same >> thing is possible with pything scripts. >> >> Of course, anything that has >> if __name__ == "__main__": >> in it should always have a shebang and be executable. > > That's in my template as well. :) > > I try to write all my modules so that they can easily be adapted to run > as scripts, and all my scripts so that they can easily be adapted to use > as modules. This has served me well many, many times. I see no reasons > to create an artificial barrier to doing this by leaving the shebang out > of files where it has no ill effect.
If you ever create a module that *shouldn't be run you can always put if __name__ == "__main__": print "Do not run this script: it is a module for import only" at the end of it. But what's the point? regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden Recent Ramblings http://holdenweb.blogspot.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
