Building the Distribution ZIP

The build script packages the Blender addon into a ZIP file ready for installation in Blender.

Running the build

python build_blender_addon.py

Output: dist/blender_skp_io-<version>.zip

What the script does

  1. Derives the same public Python package version as skppy from Git tags, such as vX.Y.Z or X.Y.(Z+1).devN.

  2. Creates dist/blender_skp_io-<version>.zip.

  3. Adds the addon source tree (blender_skp_io/).

  4. Adds the bundled skppy library (skppy/).

  5. Writes a Blender-compatible version into the bundled blender_manifest.toml.

  6. Writes the Git-derived Python package version to the bundled skppy/_version.py.

  7. Excludes:

    • __pycache__/, *.pyc, *.pyo

    • .git/, .mypy_cache/, .pytest_cache/

    • *.egg-info/

The resulting ZIP is compatible with Blender’s Extension system (manifest schema 1.0.0, blender_version_min = "4.2.0").

ZIP contents

blender_skp_io-<version>.zip
+- blender_manifest.toml
+- __init__.py
+- export_builder.py
+- scene_builder.py
+- operators/
|   +- __init__.py
|   +- export_skp.py
|   +- import_skp.py
\- skppy/
    +- __init__.py
    +- loader.py
    +- triangulation.py
    +- utils.py
    +- data_structure/
    |   \- ...
    +- parser/
    |   \- ...

Versioning

Version numbers are defined by Git tags through setuptools-scm. The bundled Python package uses the same public version as skppy, including development versions such as 0.8.1.dev12.

Blender extension manifests require semantic-version-compatible values, so the packaged blender_manifest.toml converts PEP 440 development versions to a SemVer prerelease form. For example, 0.8.1.dev12 becomes 0.8.1-dev.12 in the manifest while bundled skppy/_version.py keeps 0.8.1.dev12.

For a release build, tag the commit:

git tag vX.Y.Z
python build_blender_addon.py

The source blender_manifest.toml keeps a valid placeholder version so Blender can read the checkout during development. The packaged ZIP receives the Git-derived version, with the manifest normalization described above. Source archives without Git metadata fall back to 0.0.0. Use the environment variable SKPPY_VERSION or the build script’s --version option only when an explicit build override is required.

Continuous integration

To automate the build:

# .github/workflows/build.yml
- name: Build Blender addon
  run: |
    python build_blender_addon.py
- name: Upload artifact
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: blender_skp_io
    path: dist/*.zip