<html> <head> <title>SWIG:Examples:python</title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff"> <H1>SWIG Python Examples</H1> <tt>$Header: /cvs/projects/SWIG/Examples/python/index.html,v 1.8.4.2 2001/12/08 23:33:20 cheetah Exp $</tt><br> <p> The following examples illustrate the use of SWIG with Python. <ul> <li><a href="simple/index.html">simple</a>. A minimal example showing how SWIG can be used to wrap a C function, a global variable, and a constant. <li><a href="constants/index.html">constants</a>. This shows how preprocessor macros and certain C declarations are turned into constants. <li><a href="variables/index.html">variables</a>. An example showing how to access C global variables from Python. <li><a href="value/index.html">value</a>. How to pass and return structures by value. <li><a href="class/index.html">class</a>. Wrapping a simple C++ class. <li><a href="reference/index.html">reference</a>. C++ references. <li><a href="pointer/index.html">pointer</a>. Simple pointer handling. <li><a href="funcptr/index.html">funcptr</a>. Pointers to functions. </ul> <h2>Compilation Issues</h2> <ul> <li>To create a Python extension, SWIG is run with the following options: <blockquote> <pre> % swig -python interface.i </pre> </blockquote> <li> Please see the <a href="../../Doc/Manual/Windows.html">Windows</a> page in the main manual for information on using the examples on Windows. <p> </li> <li>On Unix the compilation of examples is done using the file <tt>Example/Makefile</tt>. This makefile performs a manual module compilation which is platform specific. Typically, the steps look like this (Linux): <blockquote> <pre> % swig -python interface.i % gcc -fpic -c interface_wrap.c -I/usr/local/include/python1.5 % gcc -shared interface_wrap.o $(OBJS) -o interfacemodule.so % python Python 1.5.2 (#3, Oct 9 1999, 22:09:34) [GCC 2.95.1 19990816 (release)] on linux2 Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam >>> import interface >>> interface.blah(...) ... </pre> </blockquote> <li>The politically "correct" way to compile a Python extension is to follow the steps described at <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/current/ext/building-on-unix.html">www.python.org</a> or in the most excellent (and shamelessly plugged) <a href="http://islab.cs.uchicago.edu/python">Python Essential Reference</a>: <p> <ol> <li>Create a file called <tt>Setup</tt> that looks like the following where $(SRCS) is filled in with any other source files you need to build the extension: <blockquote> <pre> *shared* interface interface_wrap.c $(SRCS) </pre> </blockquote> <li>Copy the file <tt>Makefile.pre.in</tt> from the Python distribution. Usually it's located in the directory <tt>/usr/local/lib/python1.5/config</tt> on a Unix machine. <p> <li>Type the following to build the extension: <blockquote> <pre> % make -f Makefile.pre.in boot % make </pre> </blockquote> <li> And that's it. If you are preparing an extension for distribution, you may want to look at the <a href="http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/">distutils</a>. </ol> </ul> <h2>Compatibility</h2> The examples have been extensively tested on the following platforms: <ul> <li>Linux <li>Solaris </ul> All of the examples were last tested with the following configuration (9/1/2000): <ul> <li>Sparc Solaris 2.8. <li>gcc-2.95.2 <li>Python 1.6b1. </ul> Your mileage may vary. If you experience a problem, please let us know by sending a message to <a href="mailto:swig-dev@cs.uchicago.edu">swig-dev@cs.uchicago.edu</a>. </body> </html>
