Glossary · Phase 7 · Software engineering

Lockfile

Also written: lockfiles, lock file

A file recording the exact version of every installed package, so every install gets the same ones.

pyproject.toml says what you need in general: "requests, version 2 or later". A lockfile records exactly what got installed, down to every package's package. Commit it.
From the lesson Projects, packaging and CI

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CI turns "it works on my machine" into "it works".

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Projects, packaging and CI · Lay out a real project, pin its dependencies and test it on every push. About 35 minutes.

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Other terms from the same lesson

continuous integration: A server running a project's tests and checks on every change, blocking changes that fail.
linter: A tool that reads code and flags likely mistakes and bad patterns without running it.
semantic versioning: Version numbers written MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, where each part signals breaking changes, new features or bug fixes.

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