renew

What it is and what it does

Renew is a serialization library that makes Python objects produce eval-safe repr strings—strings that, when passed to eval(), recreate equivalent objects. Unlike pickle, which produces binary data, renew generates pure Python code that can be read, edited, and imported as a module. You define a class inheriting from renew.Mold, ensure its __init__ arguments are stored as same-named attributes, and renew automatically generates a reproducible __repr__. You can then call renew.serialize() to write object graphs to a Python file with proper imports and formatting.

The main constraint is structural: your class must store constructor arguments as attributes with matching names, and variadic/keyword arguments must be stored in specific container types (tuple, list, set, OrderedDict for args; dict or OrderedDict for kwargs). This design trades flexibility for transparency—the resulting code is human-readable and can serve as a lightweight alternative to pickle for scenarios where you want to inspect or manually edit serialized state.

Use it for

• Store application configuration or cached object state as importable Python files instead of binary formats.
• Serialize test fixtures or example data in a format that's both machine-readable and human-editable.
• Debug object hierarchies by inspecting their eval-safe repr output before deciding whether to persist them.
• Generate Python code that reconstructs complex object graphs without requiring pickle at load time.

Worth the install?

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Install

renew on PyPI

Before you install

Low friction installation with a single dependency (six). However, the package is abandoned—last release was 2019-06-03 with no subsequent maintenance or updates.

Class must store all constructor arguments as instance attributes with identical names; variadic args must be stored as list/tuple/set/OrderedDict, keyword args as dict/OrderedDict.

License in practice

MIT license (permissive). You can use, modify, and distribute this package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

import renew

class MyClass(renew.Mold):
    def __init__(self, a, b):
        self.a, self.b = a, b

obj = MyClass(1, 2)
print(repr(obj))  # MyClass(1, 2)
renew.serialize('/tmp/out.py', obj=obj)

Package facts

Evidence: renew-0.5.4-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Software Development packages

See also cheap-repr · serpent · slicerator · dill · cobble · desert · sqlalchemy-repr · tblib · re-assert · magicattr