virtualenv, python-rope and pylint

python-ropemac is really useful for developing python in emacs, and pylint is also very handy as a analyzer. However, they both don’t work very well with virtualenv, especially because I always run emacs in server mode, and the server instance is usually not under virtualenv.

Here is how to make things work:

Edit .ropeproject/config.py:

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# You can extend python path for looking up modules
    prefs.add('python_path',
              '/your-virtualenv-dir/lib/python2.7/site-packages/')

For pylint, generate (by pylint --generate-rcfile) or copy your default pylintrc to project root dir. Edit it:

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# Python code to execute, usually for sys.path manipulation such as
# pygtk.require().
init-hook='this_file="/your-virtialenv-dir/bin/activate_this.py";execfile(this_file, dict(__file__=this_file))'

After this pylint will work even in emacs.