Accessing Files from a Zip Archive with Python Package Resources

You can use the pkg_resources module to access files inside a zip archive. This can be particularly useful when dealing with package resources or assets.

Example Code

Here's an example of how you might use pkg_resources to read and manipulate files within a Python package:

# __main__.py
import pkg_resources
from PIL import Image

# Access text file
print(pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__, 'README.txt'))

# Access and manipulate image
im = Image.open(pkg_resources.resource_stream('app', 'im.png'))
im.rotate(45).show()

Zip Archive Structure

Assume your zip archive has the following structure:

.
|-- app
|   |-- im.png
|   `-- __init__.py
|-- README.txt
`-- __main__.py

Making the Zip Archive Executable

To make your zipfile executable, follow these steps:

$ echo '#!/usr/bin/env python' | cat - zipfile > program-name
$ chmod +x program-name

Testing the Executable

Test the executable script as follows:

$ cp program-name /another-dir/
$ cd /another-dir && ./program-name

By following these steps, you can efficiently load and manipulate resources from within a Python package stored in a zip archive.