Register .whl as a unpack format in shutil unpack

@chimeno

BPO	39846
Nosy	@chimeno, @pdxjohnny, @domdfcoding

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2020-03-04.10:24:15.384>
labels = ['type-feature', 'library', '3.11']
title = 'Register .whl as a unpack format in shutil unpack'
updated_at = <Date 2021-10-25.23:43:48.319>
user = 'https://github.com/chimeno'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-10-25.23:43:48.319>
actor = 'pdxjohnny'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2020-03-04.10:24:15.384>
creator = 'dchimeno'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 39846
keywords = []
message_count = 3.0
messages = ['363341', '396800', '405008']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['dchimeno', 'pdxjohnny', 'domdfcoding']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = None
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue39846'
versions = ['Python 3.11']

Linked PRs

gh-84027: Add whl as an unpack format in shutil #140385

While working on project with Python wheels I found myself adding:

import shutil
shutil.register_unpack_format('whl', ['.whl'], shutil._unpack_zipfile)
```

Since PEP-427 explicitly says wheels are ZIP-format archive. https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0427/

I wonder if it's loable to register the unpack format by default so the 
shutil.unpack_archive() function works without adding it.

I have run into this myself and was surprised unpack_archive didn't support wheels. I would like to see support added, and don't mind doing the work myself.

That said, I can see there being an issue with the number of supported zip-based formats ballooning: Java JARs, Android APKs etc.
However, wheels have a use case for easily extracting them -- that's how they're installed. I can't see a use case for being able to *easily* extract other formats.

If there's no opposition I will start work on a PR.

I ran into this today. Using a wrapper function around _make_zipfile due to

cpython/Lib/shutil.py

Lines 817 to 819 in d5650a1

    
           if format != 'zip': 
        
               kwargs['owner'] = owner 
        
               kwargs['group'] = group

where there is a check for if the format is zip then don't pass owner and group.

def make_whlfile(*args, owner=None, group=None, **kwargs):
    return shutil._make_zipfile(*args, **kwargs)


shutil.register_archive_format("whl", make_whlfile, description="Wheel file")
shutil.register_unpack_format(
    "whl", [".whl"], shutil._unpack_zipfile, description="Wheel file"
)

pythongh-84027: Add whl as an unpack format in shutil

gh-84027: Add `whl` as an unpack format in `shutil` (#140385)

@emmatyping

This has now been added, and will be released in Python 3.16 thanks to @emmatyping! :-)

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Register .whl as a unpack format in shutil unpack #84027

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	if format != 'zip':
	kwargs['owner'] = owner
	kwargs['group'] = group

Register .whl as a unpack format in shutil unpack #84027

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chimeno commented on Mar 4, 2020

domdfcoding commented on Jun 30, 2021

pdxjohnny commented on Oct 25, 2021

StanFromIreland commented on Oct 30, 2026

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