From d1feaa3ac8172b4c4740bde14ccf29e376cf17f1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Himanshu Agrawal Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2026 01:17:26 +0530 Subject: [PATCH] docs: warn about data_files usage --- source/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools.rst | 7 +++++++ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+) diff --git a/source/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools.rst b/source/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools.rst index bf4227aae..9abfcccd3 100644 --- a/source/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools.rst +++ b/source/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools.rst @@ -250,6 +250,13 @@ For more information, see :std:doc:`Including Data Files data_files=[('my_data', ['data/data_file'])], +.. warning:: + + ``data_files`` is a legacy installation mechanism and is deprecated in + setuptools' declarative configuration. Prefer :ref:`Package Data` for files + that belong inside an import package, and reserve ``data_files`` for + last-resort cases that need to place files outside Python packages. + Although configuring :ref:`Package Data` is sufficient for most needs, in some cases you may need to place data files *outside* of your :term:`packages `. The ``data_files`` directive allows you to do that.