Question

I’m looking into branching python packages in Eclipse using the Subclipse plugin. I can physically branch fine, the problem occurs when I’m using the Debug and Run feature in Eclipse. It doesn’t change where the imports are coming from; take this example…

PythonProject > trunk > test > __init__.py
                               main.py
                               message.py

main.py contains:

from test.message import message
print message

message.py contains:

message = "Hello world!"

the __init__ is empty.

When branching:

PythonProject > branches > 1 > test > __init__.py
                               main.py
                               message.py

main.py contains:

from test.message import message
print message

message.py contains:

message = "Hello earth!"

But when I run debug or run from the branched main.py I get “Hello world!” printed. I need Eclipse to pick up the new PYTHONPATH. I know this can be done with a sys.path.append / sys.pah.insert but I hope there’s a much slicker solution.

Hope this makes sense.

Answer 1

You could create separate projects in Eclipse for the branches and set their PYTHONPATHs differently. There’s probably another, hackier way to do it (and maybe a non-hacky way too), but the idea of a project is that it is a cohesive unit. By definition, different branches are not part of a cohesive whole.