Registry / serialization / openstep-plist

openstep-plist

library0.5.2pypypi✓ verified 92d ago

A fast ASCII plist parser written in Cython, used primarily for parsing Glyphs.app and other Apple-style ASCII property list files. Current version 0.5.2, supports Python >=3.8, released on a maintenance cadence.

serialization

pip install openstep-plist

github ↗package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · OPENSTEP-PLIST

openstep-plist

serializationpythonv0.5.2

Install

1.7s avg

Import

—

Disk

20MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v0.5.2 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.000s · 23.4MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 1.7s · import 0.000s · 21MB

20MB installed

● package 20MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

load

✓ from openstep_plist import load

✗ from openstep_plist.load import load

load is a top-level function, not a submodule.

loads

✓ from openstep_plist import loads

✗ import openstep_plist; openstep_plist.loads()

Works but not the recommended import.

dump

✓ from openstep_plist import dump

dumps

✓ from openstep_plist import dumps

PlistParser

✓ from openstep_plist import PlistParser

✗ from openstep_plist.parser import PlistParser

PlistParser is exposed at package level.

PlistWriter

✓ from openstep_plist import PlistWriter

✗ from openstep_plist.writer import PlistWriter

PlistWriter is exposed at package level.

Parse and dump ASCII plist strings.

from openstep_plist import load, dumps # Parse an ASCII plist string plist_string = """{ name = Example; version = 1; }""" data = load(plist_string) print(data) # {'name': 'Example', 'version': 1} # Dump back to ASCII plist output = dumps(data) print(output)

Debug

Known issues

breakingIn v0.5.0, the default behavior for dumping single-line tuples changed: no space after comma. If you rely on the old format, set `single_line_empty_objects=True`.

fix

Use `dumps(data, single_line_empty_objects=True)` to preserve old spacing.

affects: >=0.5.0

breakingIn v0.2.1, the default value of `use_numbers` in the parser was reverted to False. Strings that look like numbers (e.g., '123') are now kept as strings by default.

fix

If you need automatic conversion to int/float, pass `use_numbers=True` to `load()` or `loads()`.

affects: >=0.2.1

deprecated`pkg_resources` usage was replaced by `importlib.metadata` in v0.5.2. If you were depending on `pkg_resources` internals, update your code.

fix

Use `importlib.metadata.version('openstep-plist')` instead of `pkg_resources.get_distribution('openstep-plist').version`.

affects: >=0.5.2

gotchaThe library only supports ASCII property list format, not XML or binary plists. Loading an XML plist will fail or produce unexpected results.

fix

Use `plistlib` for XML/binary plists; use `openstep-plist` only for ASCII plist format (e.g., Glyphs files).

affects: all

Errors

Common errors & fixes

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openstep_plist'

The package is installed as `openstep-plist` (with hyphen) but imported as `openstep_plist` (underscore).

fix

Install with `pip install openstep-plist`, then import as `from openstep_plist import ...`.

AttributeError: module 'openstep_plist' has no attribute 'loads'

Older versions (e.g., 0.2.x) did not expose `loads` at the top level; or the import is wrong.

fix

Upgrade to latest version (`pip install -U openstep-plist`) or use `from openstep_plist import loads`.

ValueError: Unsupported plist format

Attempting to parse XML or binary plist data with openstep-plist, which only handles ASCII plist format.

fix

Use Python's built-in `plistlib` for XML or binary plists.

Upgrade

Version history

0.5.2latest on PyPI · released Mar 11, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

No dependency data recorded yet.

Agent activity

4 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/fonttools/openstep-plist ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/openstep-plist/ ↗