There are generally the following two types of distributions for Python packages:
- Source distributions
- Built (binary) distributions
Source distributions are the simplest and most platform independent. For pure Python packages, it is a no-brainer. Such a distribution contains only Python sources and these should already be highly portable.
A more complex situation is when your package introduces some extensions written, for example, in C. Source distributions will still work provided that the package user has proper development toolchain in his/her environment. This consists mostly of the compiler and proper C header files. For such cases, the build distribution format may be better suited because it can provide already built extensions for specific platforms.
Let's take a look at what exactly the sdist command.