Python · Packaging & Distribution

What's the practical difference between a wheel (.whl) and an sdist (source tarball, .tar.gz) when you run pip install?

Answer locked. Get the free KnowCard app to reveal it — plus spaced-repetition review so it actually sticks.

This is one card from the KnowCard library — thousands more across SAP, Linux, Python and more. In the app you get the answer, AI explanations, and cards that come back right before you would forget them. Free to start on iOS, Android or the web.

More in Packaging & Distribution

You import a function from a single .py file. Is that file a module, a package, or a distribution?

A teammate says "just pip install PIL" but the import is import PIL and it fails. Why can pip install <name> and import <name> use different names?

Installing a package with a C extension fails with "error: command 'gcc' failed". What does that tell you about what pip downloaded, and what's the usual fix?

For a brand-new project, should you write a setup.py or a pyproject.toml? What's the relationship between them?

Why is running python setup.py install (or sdist/bdist_wheel) considered the wrong way to build/install today, and what replaced each?

What does PyPI stand for, and which tool publishes TO it versus installs FROM it?

Start learning today

Free to start — download the app or use it in your browser.