bpo-11913: Add README.rst to the distutils standard READMEs list (#563)

Doc/distutils/sourcedist.rst

@@ -95,8 +95,9 @@ source distribution:
   distributions, but in the future there will be a standard for testing Python
   module distributions)
 
-* :file:`README.txt` (or :file:`README`), :file:`setup.py` (or whatever  you
-  called your setup script), and :file:`setup.cfg`
+* Any of the standard README files (:file:`README`, :file:`README.txt`,
+  or :file:`README.rst`), :file:`setup.py` (or whatever you called your setup
+  script), and :file:`setup.cfg`.
 
 * all files that matches the ``package_data`` metadata.
   See :ref:`distutils-installing-package-data`.
@@ -130,6 +131,9 @@ described above does not apply in this case.
    :command:`sdist` will read a :file:`MANIFEST` file if no :file:`MANIFEST.in`
    exists, like it used to do.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 3.7
+   :file:`README.rst` is now included in the list of distutils standard READMEs.
+
 
 The manifest template has one command per line, where each command specifies a
 set of files to include or exclude from the source distribution.  For an

Doc/whatsnew/3.7.rst

@@ -95,6 +95,13 @@ New Modules
 Improved Modules
 ================
 
+distutils
+---------
+
+README.rst is now included in the list of distutils standard READMEs and
+therefore included in source distributions.
+(Contributed by Ryan Gonzalez in :issue:`11913`.)
+
 http.server
 -----------
 

Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py

@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ class sdist(Command):
 
     sub_commands = [('check', checking_metadata)]
 
-    READMES = 'README', 'README.txt'
+    READMES = ('README', 'README.txt', 'README.rst')
 
     def initialize_options(self):
         # 'template' and 'manifest' are, respectively, the names of

Misc/NEWS

@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ What's New in Python 3.7.0 alpha 1?
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- bpo-11913: README.rst is now included in the list of distutils standard
+  READMEs and therefore included in source distributions.
+
 - bpo-29914: Fixed default implementations of __reduce__ and __reduce_ex__().
   object.__reduce__() no longer takes arguments, object.__reduce_ex__() now
   requires one argument.