Is it possible to install an "empty" project (i.e. just the .dist-info) using hatchling-1.19?

[mgorny]

We are creating a shim package that consists only of a .dist-info directory and installs no Python files. Prior to hatchling-1.19, we have used the following pyproject.toml:

[build-system]
requires = ["hatchling"]
build-backend = "hatchling.build"

[project]
name = "tzdata"
version = "9999"
description = "tzdata shim to satisfy requirements (using system tzdata)"

However, this no longer works with 1.19.1:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 353, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 335, in main
    json_out['return_val'] = hook(**hook_input['kwargs'])
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 251, in build_wheel
    return _build_backend().build_wheel(wheel_directory, config_settings,
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/build.py", line 58, in build_wheel
    return os.path.basename(next(builder.build(directory=wheel_directory, versions=['standard'])))
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/plugin/interface.py", line 155, in build
    artifact = version_api[version](directory, **build_data)
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/wheel.py", line 407, in build_standard
    for included_file in self.recurse_included_files():
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/plugin/interface.py", line 176, in recurse_included_files
    yield from self.recurse_selected_project_files()
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/plugin/interface.py", line 180, in recurse_selected_project_files
    if self.config.only_include:
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/config.py", line 781, in only_include
    only_include = only_include_config.get('only-include', self.default_only_include()) or self.packages
                                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/wheel.py", line 235, in default_only_include
    return self.default_file_selection_options.only_include
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/functools.py", line 995, in __get__
    val = self.func(instance)
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/build-env-jx4x4iew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hatchling/builders/wheel.py", line 223, in default_file_selection_options
    raise ValueError(message)
ValueError: Unable to determine which files to ship inside the wheel using the following heuristics: https://hatch.pypa.io/latest/plugins/builder/wheel/#default-file-selection

At least one file selection option must be defined in the `tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel` table, see: https://hatch.pypa.io/latest/config/build/

As an example, if you intend to ship a directory named `foo` that resides within a `src` directory located at the root of your project, you can define the following:

[tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
packages = ["src/foo"]

ERROR Backend subprocess exited when trying to invoke build_wheel

Is there a supported way of installing such package? In other words, I literally want hatchling to create a wheel that contains only a .dist-info directory with the specified metadata and no other files.

[ofek]

#1135

I considered this in the history note as a new feature since this was never intentional, I hope that's okay

[bluss]

First: please use the solution pointed out by ofek which is

[tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
bypass-selection = true

---

I was looking at this problem and I found that the following works too, to create an empty wheel:

[tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
only-include = [""]

but I'm mentioning it here, is it a bug that this works too?

[ofek]

Likely a bug yes