[Python] Editable installations with non-Python files (src layout)

Let's say I have this file structure for a project called witty_name.

witty_name
├── icons
│ └── my_icon.png
├── pyproject.toml
└── src
└── witty_name
├── __init__.py
└── main.py


Notice the icons directory. I want to store all application icons in this folder.

When I build the project, I'm going to end up with this structure:

site-packages/witty_name
├── icons
│ └── my_icon.png
├── __init__.py
└── main.py


This part is fine, I've got the build backend configured to make this structure. To make sure this works regardless of where I start witty_project from, I find the icons folder using __file__, as below

# contents of main.py

from os import path

BASE_FOLDER = path.dirname(__file__)
ICONS = path.join(BASE_FOLDER, "icons")


def main():
# use the icons folder here (or elsewhere)
pass


if __name__ == "__main__":
main()


Here's the problem: how do I run the project while developing it? If I try to run it normally (i.e. python src/witty_name/main.py), I'm going to get a FileNotFoundError because the code expects the icons directory to be next to main.py. If I do an editable install, it will copy the icons directory but not the other files, so I'll get a similar issue. If I do pip install ., I can run the project, but it won't update when I make changes unless I reinstall. Can I avoid this?

The obvious solutions are:

1. Put icons inside of src/witty_name.
   • I want to avoid this because these aren't source files, they are images.
2. Re-run pip install . every time I make changes.
   • This defeats the purpose of using Python, since it's like I'm recompiling every time.
3. Use symlinks.
   • This isn't an option because I'm on Windows without admin/developer rights, so I can't make symlinks.

If anyone has ideas I would love to hear them! Also, is the first file structure reasonable for a Python GUI project? Thanks!

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