diff --git a/src/py/esse/functionals.py b/functionals.py
similarity index 61%
rename from src/py/esse/functionals.py
rename to functionals.py
index eefa6d6d2..34e7a4747 100644
--- a/src/py/esse/functionals.py
+++ b/functionals.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
+import os
+import sys
 import json
 from string import Template
-import os
-from esse.utils import read_json_file, dump_json_file
 
-DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-UNIT_FUNCTIONALS_PATH = os.path.join(DIR, "data/schema/models_directory/pb/qm/dft")
+BASE_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+REL_DIR = "schema/models_directory/pb/qm/dft"
+UNIT_FUNCTIONALS_PATH = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, REL_DIR)
 PROTOTYPE_FILENAME = os.path.join(UNIT_FUNCTIONALS_PATH, "dft_unit_functionals_proto.json")
 UNIT_FILENAME = os.path.join(UNIT_FUNCTIONALS_PATH, "dft_unit_functionals.json")
 
@@ -28,6 +29,18 @@
 }
 }""")
 
+
+def remove(fpath):
+    try:
+        os.unlink(fpath)
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        pass
+    try:
+        os.remove(fpath)
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        pass
+
+
 def generate_dft_unit_functionals():
     """
     Generate list of functionals suitable for validation by 'oneOf'.
@@ -36,7 +49,9 @@ def generate_dft_unit_functionals():
     to read and prone to errors. Thus, it is generated automatically from
     a prototype file that is easier to maintain.
     """
-    proto = read_json_file(PROTOTYPE_FILENAME)
+    with open(PROTOTYPE_FILENAME, "r") as f:
+        proto = json.loads(f.read())
+
     del proto["description"]
     output = {}
     for rung, configs in proto.items():
@@ -45,4 +60,12 @@ def generate_dft_unit_functionals():
             o["oneOf"].append(json.loads(SCHEMA_WITH_PROPERTIES_TEMPLATE.substitute(config)))
         output[rung] = o
 
-    dump_json_file(UNIT_FILENAME, output)
+    remove(UNIT_FILENAME)
+
+    with open(UNIT_FILENAME, "w") as f:
+        f.write("".join((json.dumps(output, separators=(',', ': '), indent=4, sort_keys=True), "\n")))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    # add comment
+    generate_dft_unit_functionals()
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index aa5d12639..67931c6d0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
     "version": "2022.1.9-2",
     "description": "Exabyte Source of Schemas and Examples",
     "scripts": {
+        "preinstall": "python functionals.py",
         "prepublishOnly": "rm -rf lib; npm run transpile",
         "transpile": "mkdir -p lib; babel src/js --out-dir lib/js",
         "test": "nyc --reporter=text mocha --bail --require @babel/register src/js/esse/tests",
diff --git a/schema/models_directory/pb/qm/dft/dft_unit_functionals.json b/schema/models_directory/pb/qm/dft/dft_unit_functionals.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 96075dc16..000000000
--- a/schema/models_directory/pb/qm/dft/dft_unit_functionals.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:ed8140445f721de8dfd72be1c89beb4cb76bedaf21a37dd3ccd552adc513941c
-size 36592
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 091841899..1abad590a 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 import os
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
+import subprocess as sp
+
+
+BASE_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+sp.check_call(['python', os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'functionals.py')])
 
 
 def get_files_by_path(path):