Why must it be named .git_archival.txt?

[jayvdb]

Other similar tools put the export-subst directly into a Python file. Why should it be named .git_archival.txt? The reason should be documented somewhere easy for readers, or it would be better if it can be configured.

[Changaco]

The name of the file can't be customized because it has to be included in the metadata of the setuptools_scm_git_archive package itself.

If you want to have the version number in a Python file, use another solution like version.py.

[htgoebel]

I understand that it can not be a python file. Anyhow, I don't understand this reason for not customizing the name of the file:

because it has to be included in the metadata of the setuptools_scm_git_archive package itself.