Convert the flat compliance_checker.py module into a proper package so

.gitignore

@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 __pycache__
 .pytest_cache
+build/
+dist/
+*.egg-info/

README.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Checks ISMIP7 NetCDF simulation datasets for compliance with the [ISMIP7 data re
 4. **Time** — time dimension is present, unlimited, and monotonically increasing; annual cadence for `x,y,t` and `t` variables; sparse snapshot timestamps for `x,y,z,t` variables (see [Time encoding](#time-encoding)); experiment start/end dates and duration match `experiments_ismip7.csv` for `x,y,t` and `t` variables.
 5. **Attributes** — required global and coordinate attributes are present and have correct values; `standard_name` matches data request; `_FillValue` equals the NetCDF4 default for the variable's dtype; variable and time are float32; `scale_factor` and `add_offset` are not allowed.
 
-Compliance criteria are defined in `conventions/ISMIP7_variable_request.csv` (variable metadata) and `experiments_ismip7.csv` (valid experiment year ranges and durations).
+Compliance criteria are defined in `compliance_checker/data/ISMIP7_variable_request.csv` (variable metadata) and `compliance_checker/data/experiments_ismip7.csv` (valid experiment year ranges and durations). These files are bundled with the package.
 
 ---
 
@@ -44,28 +44,33 @@ Reference lookup tables are available in the companion repository [`ismip7-time-
 
 ## Setup
 
+Create the conda environment and install the package:
+
 ```bash
 conda env create -f isschecker_env.yml
 conda activate isschecker
+pip install .
 ```
 
+Installing the package registers the `ismip7-compliance-checker` command and bundles the data files, so the checker can be run from any directory. For development, install in editable mode with the test extra: `pip install -e ".[test]"`.
+
 Dependencies: Python 3.14, `numpy` 2.4, `pandas` 3.0, `xarray` 2026.4, `cftime` 1.6, `netCDF4` 1.7, `tqdm` 4.67.
 
 ---
 
 ## Running the checker
 
-The script must be run from the repository root. It writes `compliance_checker_log.txt` into the `--source-path` directory.
+Once installed, run the checker from any directory with the `ismip7-compliance-checker` command (equivalently, `python -m compliance_checker`). It writes `compliance_checker_log.txt` into the `--source-path` directory.
 
 ```bash
 # Check x,y,t (3D spatial) variables
-python compliance_checker.py --source-path ./Models/GrIS/ISMIP7/SYNTH1/CORE/C001 --variable-list ismip7_xyt
+ismip7-compliance-checker --source-path ./Models/GrIS/ISMIP7/SYNTH1/CORE/C001 --variable-list ismip7_xyt
 
 # Check scalar (time-only) variables
-python compliance_checker.py --source-path ./Models/AIS/ISMIP7/SYNTH1/CORE/C001 --variable-list ismip7_scalars
+ismip7-compliance-checker --source-path ./Models/AIS/ISMIP7/SYNTH1/CORE/C001 --variable-list ismip7_scalars
 
 # Check both
-python compliance_checker.py --source-path ./Models/GrIS/ISMIP7/SYNTH1/CORE/C001 --variable-list ismip7
+ismip7-compliance-checker --source-path ./Models/GrIS/ISMIP7/SYNTH1/CORE/C001 --variable-list ismip7
 ```
 
 | Option | Default | Description |

compliance_checker.py → compliance_checker/__init__.py

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import re
 import subprocess
 import argparse
+from importlib import resources
 
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
@@ -54,10 +55,15 @@
 DEFAULT_VARIABLE_LIST = "ismip7_scalars"
 VARIABLE_LIST_CHOICES = ("ismip7_scalars", "ismip7_xyt", "ismip7")
 
-VARIABLE_REQUEST_CSV = os.path.join("conventions", "ISMIP7_variable_request.csv")
+VARIABLE_REQUEST_CSV = "ISMIP7_variable_request.csv"
 
 EXPERIMENTS_ISMIP7_CSV_FILENAME = "experiments_ismip7.csv"
 
+
+def data_path(filename: str) -> str:
+    """Return the filesystem path to a bundled data file in ``compliance_checker.data``."""
+    return str(resources.files("compliance_checker.data").joinpath(filename))
+
 AIS_GRID_EXTENT = [-3040000, -3040000, 3040000, 3040000]
 GrIS_GRID_EXTENT = [-720000, -3450000, 960000, -570000]
 AIS_POSSIBLE_RESOLUTION = [2, 4, 8, 16, 32]
@@ -138,22 +144,19 @@ def main() -> None:
     run_checker(
         source_path=source_path,
         variable_list=variable_list,
-        workdir=os.getcwd(),
     )
 
 
 def run_checker(
     source_path: str,
     variable_list: str = DEFAULT_VARIABLE_LIST,
-    workdir: str | None = None,
     commit_num: str | None = None,
 ):
-    workdir = os.path.abspath(workdir or os.getcwd())
     commit_num = _get_commit_number() if commit_num is None else commit_num
     experiments_ismip7 = _load_experiments_csv(
-        os.path.join(workdir, EXPERIMENTS_ISMIP7_CSV_FILENAME)
+        data_path(EXPERIMENTS_ISMIP7_CSV_FILENAME)
     )
-    ismip_meta, ismip_var, mandatory_variables = _load_criteria(workdir, variable_list)
+    ismip_meta, ismip_var, mandatory_variables = _load_criteria(variable_list)
 
     summary = _run_compliance_checker(
         source_path=source_path,
@@ -205,8 +208,8 @@ def _parse_args() -> argparse.Namespace:
     return parser.parse_args()
 
 
-def _load_criteria(workdir: str, variable_list: str):
-    csv_path = os.path.join(workdir, VARIABLE_REQUEST_CSV)
+def _load_criteria(variable_list: str):
+    csv_path = data_path(VARIABLE_REQUEST_CSV)
     try:
         df = pd.read_csv(csv_path)
     except IOError:
@@ -1511,7 +1514,3 @@ def _insert_synthesis(
 
     with open(os.path.join(source_path, "compliance_checker_log.txt"), "w") as f:
         f.writelines(contents)
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    main()

generate/README.md

@@ -76,6 +76,6 @@ python generate/generate_test_files.py --grid GrIS_16000m --scenario ctrl \
 
 ## Notes
 
-- Variable metadata is read from `conventions/ISMIP7_variable_request.csv`; grid definitions from the top-level `gdfs/` directory.
+- Variable metadata is read from `compliance_checker/data/ISMIP7_variable_request.csv`; grid definitions from the top-level `gdfs/` directory.
 - `group`, `model`, `contact_name`, and `contact_email` are hardcoded in `create_netcdf_file()` to synthetic defaults — edit there to customise.
 - Generated files are synthetic and intended for testing the compliance checker, not for scientific use.

generate/generate_test_files.py

@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import netCDF4
 
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+GDF_DIR = REPO_ROOT / 'gdfs'
+# The variable-request CSV is bundled with the compliance_checker package data.
+CONVENTIONS_DIR = REPO_ROOT / 'compliance_checker' / 'data'
+
 
 def get_available_grids(conventions_dir):
     """
@@ -27,8 +32,8 @@ def get_available_grids(conventions_dir):
     dict
         Dictionary with grid info: {'GrIS': [...], 'AIS': [...]}
     """
-    # Grid definitions moved to project root `gdfs` directory
-    gdf_dir = Path(conventions_dir).parent / 'gdfs'
+    # Grid definitions live in the project root `gdfs` directory
+    gdf_dir = GDF_DIR
     grids = {'GrIS': [], 'AIS': []}
 
     if not gdf_dir.exists():
@@ -221,11 +226,9 @@ def create_netcdf_file(output_file, grid_name='GrIS_16000m', scenario='ctrl', st
     contact_names='Your Name'
     contact_emails='your@email.org'
 
-    # Determine conventions directory
+    # Determine conventions directory (bundled package data by default)
     if conventions_dir is None:
-        # Try to find conventions directory relative to this script
-        script_dir = Path(__file__).parent.parent
-        conventions_dir = script_dir / 'conventions'
+        conventions_dir = CONVENTIONS_DIR
 
     conventions_dir = Path(conventions_dir)
 
@@ -252,7 +255,7 @@ def create_netcdf_file(output_file, grid_name='GrIS_16000m', scenario='ctrl', st
     output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
     # Load grid definition
-    gdf_file = conventions_dir.parent / 'gdfs' / f'gdf_ISMIP7_{grid_type}_{resolution}.txt'
+    gdf_file = GDF_DIR / f'gdf_ISMIP7_{grid_type}_{resolution}.txt'
     if not gdf_file.exists():
         raise FileNotFoundError(f"Grid definition file not found: {gdf_file}")
 
@@ -755,9 +758,7 @@ def create_multiple_files(output_dir=None, n_files=3, conventions_dir=None,
     """
 
     if conventions_dir is None:
-        # Try to find conventions directory relative to this script
-        script_dir = Path(__file__).parent.parent
-        conventions_dir = script_dir / 'conventions'
+        conventions_dir = CONVENTIONS_DIR
 
     # Get available grids
     grids = get_available_grids(str(conventions_dir))
@@ -794,8 +795,7 @@ def create_multiple_files(output_dir=None, n_files=3, conventions_dir=None,
     import argparse
 
     # Get available grids
-    script_dir = Path(__file__).parent.parent
-    conventions_dir = script_dir / 'conventions'
+    conventions_dir = CONVENTIONS_DIR
     available_grids = get_available_grids(str(conventions_dir))
 
     # Create list of available grid choices, excluding some high-resolution entries

isschecker_env.yml

@@ -2,16 +2,16 @@ name: isschecker
 channels:
   - conda-forge
 dependencies:
-  - python=3.14
-  - pip=26.0.1
+  - python
+  - pip
 
 # Core scientific python
-  - numpy=2.4.3
-  - pandas=3.0.2
-  - pytest=8.4.2
-  - tqdm=4.67.3
+  - numpy
+  - pandas
+  - pytest
+  - tqdm
 
 # Spatial packages
-  - xarray=2026.4.0
-  - cftime=1.6.5
-  - netcdf4=1.7.4
+  - xarray
+  - cftime
+  - netcdf4

pyproject.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=61.0"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "isschecker"
+version = "0.1.0"
+description = "ISMIP7 compliance checker for ice sheet model simulation NetCDF datasets"
+readme = "README.md"
+license = { file = "LICENSE" }
+requires-python = ">=3.10"
+authors = [{ name = "Heiko Goelzer", email = "heig@norceresearch.no" }]
+dependencies = [
+    "numpy",
+    "pandas",
+    "xarray",
+    "cftime",
+    "netCDF4",
+    "tqdm",
+]
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+test = ["pytest"]
+
+[project.scripts]
+ismip7-compliance-checker = "compliance_checker:main"
+
+[tool.setuptools]
+packages = ["compliance_checker", "compliance_checker.data"]
+
+[tool.setuptools.package-data]
+"compliance_checker.data" = ["*.csv"]

tests/test_compliance_checker.py

@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ def baseline_core_dir(tmp_path_factory):
         scenario="historical",
         start_year=2013,
         nyears=2,
-        conventions_dir=REPO_ROOT / "conventions",
         include_scalars=True,
         include_xyt=False,
         output_root=baseline_root,
@@ -48,7 +47,6 @@ def baseline_core_dir(tmp_path_factory):
     baseline_summary = compliance_checker.run_checker(
         source_path=str(core_dir),
         variable_list="ismip7_scalars",
-        workdir=str(REPO_ROOT),
         commit_num="tests",
     )
     assert baseline_summary["total_errors"] == 0, (
@@ -69,7 +67,6 @@ def run_checker(case_dir: Path):
     return compliance_checker.run_checker(
         source_path=str(case_dir),
         variable_list="ismip7_scalars",
-        workdir=str(REPO_ROOT),
         commit_num="tests",
     )