Python - setup.py - auto link issues in reST files (such as CHANGES.rst)

setup.py

import re

# tested with BitBucket
TRACKER = 'http://bitbucket.org/tarek/distribute'

# return contents of reStructureText file with linked issue references
def _linkified(rstfile):
    revision = re.compile(r'\b(issue\s*#?\d+)\b', re.M | re.I)

    rstext = open(rstfile).read()    

    anchors = revision.findall(rstext) # ['Issue #43', ...]
    anchors = sorted(set(anchors))
    rstext = revision.sub(r'`\1`_', rstext)
    rstext += "\n"
    for x in anchors:
        issue = re.findall(r'\d+', x)[0]
        rstext += '.. _`%s`: %s/issue/%s\n' % (x, TRACKER, issue)
    rstext += "\n"
    return rstext

print(_linkified('CHANGES.txt'))