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Exclude the project from no-build by default #17416
Description
Summary
I'd like to have the following:
- External dependencies are not built, unless explicitly allowed with
no-binary-package(basically: I want to install wheels, not sdists) uv synccan create/update the venvuv buildcan package my package (e.g. foruv publish)
However, that's not possible with packages (uv init --package):
no-build = truecorrectly prevents sdist installs, but thenuv synconly works after also configuringno-binary-package = ["my-package"]uv buildonly works with theuv_buildbackend. I have to removeno-build = trueto make it work with other backends.
I think points 2 and 3 should work out of the box.
How to reproduce
# create new package
uv init --package --build-backend setuptools my-package
cd my-package
# set `no-build = true`
echo '[tool.uv]' >> pyproject.toml
echo 'no-build = true' >> pyproject.toml
# interact with the package
uv sync # error: Distribution `my-package==0.1.0 @ editable+.` can't be installed because it is marked as `--no-build` but has no binary distribution
# explicitly allow uv to build my own package
echo 'no-binary-package = ["my-package"]' >> pyproject.toml
# interact with the package
uv sync # works
# build the package
uv build # Failed to build, Building source distributions is disabledReacted by Ran Benita, Henry Cai, Nicholas Pace, Jiri Daněk, Clément Robert, Julio Batista Silva, janos-varga and Matt Norton
Activity
zanieb commentedon Jan 12, 2026
Can you explain (3)? Why does setuptools fail?
NMertsch commentedon Jan 12, 2026
I don't think setuptools fails. To me, "Building source distributions is disabled" implies that uv didn't invoke setuptools at all due to
no-build = true.But when running
uv init --package my-package(without--build-backend setuptools),uv buildworks just fine.zanieb commentedon Jan 12, 2026
I'm confused that you said
zanieb commentedon Jan 12, 2026
You're saying it works for the
uv_buildbackend but not any other ones?NMertsch commentedon Jan 12, 2026
Sorry for the confusion. What I meant was:
uv buildwith backendsetuptoolsworks, unlessno-build = true.uv buildwith backenduv_buildworks, independently ofno-build = true.I didn't test other backends. Give me a few minutes to try them all.
NMertsch commentedon Jan 12, 2026
I now tried steps from the original post on all supported build backends.
uv syncbehavior doesn't depend on the build backend. It always fails withno-build = trueand always works without it.uv buildwith-no-build = trueonly works for--build-backend uvand fails for all other backends (hatch, flit, pdm, poetry, scikit, setuptools; I skipped maturin because I don't have Rust installed). The error message is always the same: "Building source distributions is disabled".(Updated the original post: setuptools -> all backends besides uv_build)
CHC383 commentedon Jan 16, 2026
I have a similar case
uv build --sdistfailed becauseBuilding source distributions is disabled.Basically I want to disable building external dependencies but not my own project, and the workaround
no-binary-packagedoesn't work in this case. I think this behavior was raised in #12607 but that issue was buried 😞@NMertsch I wonder how
as it doesn't work with the config above.
bluetech commentedon Jan 20, 2026
I have a workspace with many packages using
uv_buildand I tried to setno-build = truein the root pyproject.toml for security reasons. I get the "can't be installed because [...] has no binary distribution" error. Does it make sense to have editable installs in particular excluded from theno-buildcheck?segfly commentedon Feb 8, 2026
I ran into this issue as well:
hatchlingbuild backend withhatch-vcs(because the uv build backend doesn't support hooks)2 and 3 are currently mutually exclusive because of these two uv issues. So I either have to choose security or choose dynamic versions from vcs.
🔧 ci: Add --locked --no-build to uv sync (SonarCloud S8544/S8541) (#73)
janos-varga commentedon Sep 7, 2026
I work at a large financial services firm where several teams (who already migrated to uv) are suffering from this, and even more teams are refusing to migrate exactly because of this. We need 2 and 3 to work at the same time.
Data scientists (as well as other non-engineer Python users) cannot be expected to have full go/rust/c++ build toolchains installed locally when they only work with Python. For this reason, and the security one stated by @segfly , source distros are not an option for us. But teams that develop building blocks for others (i.e. libs) must be able to obide by requirements 2 and 3 above.
Please fix this.
CarrotManMatt commentedon Oct 15, 2026
The workaround I found for building the local project into a wheel is to use the
--buildflag in CI:uv build --no-sources --build. For some reason that lets the current project be built whenno-build = true&no-binary-package = ["my_project"].That being said, I think the correct solution in the long term is for the
no-build = trueconfiguration option to exclude the current project.zanieb commentedon Oct 15, 2026
I believe this has been resolved: