Metadata-Version: 2.0
Name: patchy
Version: 1.2.0
Summary: Patch the source of python functions at runtime.
Home-page: https://github.com/adamchainz/patchy
Author: Adam Johnson
Author-email: me@adamj.eu
License: BSD
Keywords: patchy
Platform: UNKNOWN
Classifier: Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
Classifier: Intended Audience :: Developers
Classifier: License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License
Classifier: Natural Language :: English
Classifier: Operating System :: OS Independent
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 2
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4
Requires-Dist: pylru (==1.0.9)
Requires-Dist: six (==1.9.0)

======
Patchy
======

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/travis/adamchainz/patchy.svg
        :target: https://travis-ci.org/adamchainz/patchy

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/patchy.svg
        :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/patchy

.. figure:: https://raw.github.com/adamchainz/patchy/master/pirate.png
   :alt: A patchy pirate.

..

Patch the source of python functions at runtime (not monkey-patching - actual
patch-patching).

A quick example:

.. code-block:: python

    >>> def sample():
    ...    return 1
    >>> patchy.patch(sample, """\
    ...     @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
    ...      def sample():
    ...     -    return 1
    ...     +    return 9001
    ...     """)
    >>> sample()
    9001


Why?
====

If you’re monkey-patching an external library to add or fix some functionality,
you will probably forget to check the monkey patch when you upgrade it. By
using a patch against its source code, you can specify some context that you
expect to remain the same in the function that will be checked before the
source is applied.

I found this with some small but important patches to Django for a project.
Since it takes a lot of energy to maintain a fork, writing monkey patches was
the chosen quick solution, but then writing actual patches would be better.

The patches are applied with the standard ``patch`` commandline utility.


Why not?
========

There are of course a lot of reasons against:

* It’s (relatively) slow (since it writes the source to disk and calls the
  ``patch`` command)
* If you have a patch file, why not just fork the library and apply it?
* At least with monkey-patching you know you end up with, rather than having a
  the changes being done at runtime

All are valid arguments. However once in a while this might be the right
solution.


How?
====

The standard library function ``inspect.getsource()`` is used to retrieve the
source code of the function, the patch is applied with the commandline utility
``patch``, the code is recompiled, and the function’s code object is replaced
the new one. Because nothing tends to poke around at code objects apart from
dodgy hacks like this, you don’t need to worry about chasing any references
that may exist to the function, unlike ``mock.patch``.


API
===

``patch(func, patch_text)``
---------------------------

Apply the patch ``patch_text`` to the source of function ``func``.

If the patch is invalid, for example the context lines don’t match,
``ValueError`` will be raised, with a message that includes all the output from
the ``patch`` utility.

Note that ``patch_text`` will be ``textwrap.dedent()``’ed, but leading
whitespace will not be removed. Therefore the correct way to include the patch
is with a triple-quoted string with a backslash - ``"""\`` - which starts the
string and avoids including the first newline. A final newline is not required
and will be automatically added if not present.

Example:

.. code-block:: python

    import patchy

    def sample():
        return 1

    patchy.patch(sample, """\
        @@ -2,2 +2,2 @@
        -    return 1
        +    return 2""")

    print(sample())  # prints 2


``unpatch(func, patch_text)``
-----------------------------

Unapply the patch ``patch_text`` from the source of function ``func``. This is
the reverse of ``patch()``\ing it, and calls ``patch --reverse``.

The same error and formatting rules apply as in ``patch()``.

Example:

.. code-block:: python

    import patchy

    def sample():
        return 2

    patchy.unpatch(sample, """\
        @@ -2,2 +2,2 @@
        -    return 1
        +    return 2""")

    print(sample())  # prints 1


``temp_patch(func, patch_text)``
--------------------------------

Usable as a context manager or function decorator to wrap code with a call to
``patch`` before and ``unpatch`` after.

Context manager example:

.. code-block:: python

    def sample():
        return 1234

    patch_text = """\
        @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
         def sample():
        -    return 1234
        +    return 5678
        """

    with patchy.temp_patch(sample, patch_text):
        print(sample())  # prints 5678

Decorator example, using the same ``sample`` and ``patch_text``:

.. code-block:: python

    @patchy.temp_patch(sample, patch_text)
    def my_func():
        return sample() == 5678

    print(my_func())  # prints True


How to Create a Patch
=====================

1. Save the source of the function of interest in a ``.py`` file, e.g.
   ``before.py``. Make sure you dedent it so there is no whitespace before the
   ``def``:

   .. code-block:: python

       def foo():
           print("Change me")

2. Copy that ``.py`` file, to e.g. ``after.py``, and make the changes you
   want:

   .. code-block:: python

       def foo():
           print("Changed")

3. Run ``diff``, e.g. ``diff before.py after.py``. You will get output like:

   .. code-block:: diff

      diff --git a/Users/chainz/tmp/before.py b/Users/chainz/tmp/after.py
      index e6b32c6..31fe8d9 100644
      --- a/Users/chainz/tmp/before.py
      +++ b/Users/chainz/tmp/after.py
      @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
       def foo():
      -    print("Change me")
      +    print("Changed")

4. The filenames are not necessary for ``patchy`` to work. Take only from the
   first ``@@`` line onwards into the multiline string you pass to
   ``patchy.patch()``:

   .. code-block:: python

      patchy.patch(foo, """\
          @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
           def foo():
          -    print("Change me")
          +    print("Changed")
          """)




History
-------

1.2.0 (2015-07-23)
------------------

* Pirate mascot!
* Patching caches the patched and unpatched versions, so unpatching and repeat
  patching/unpatching are both faster
* Patching doesn't attach an attribute to the function object any more

1.1.0 (2015-06-16)
------------------

* Fixed code compilation to use the ``__future__`` flags from the function that
  is being patched
* Added ``unpatch`` method
* Added ``temp_patch`` context manager/decorator


1.0.0 (2015-06-09)
---------------------

* First release on PyPI, featuring ``patch`` function.


