CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonmoduleorganization
Anonnobody
Anonnobody

Reputation: 12757

Writing Python packages with multiple C modules

I am writing a Python C extension which uses the pygame C API. So far so good. Now I wonder how I organize my source code so that I can have multiple submodules in the package. All the tutorials out there focus on one .c file extensions. I tried looking at some projects setup.py files but they blew my mind with complexity, and I could not see the forest for the trees.

Basically, I have an extension, say MyExt. MyExt has global functions, and 3 types. How do I go about organizing the PyMethodDef lists? Do I have to put all of them in one list? Alternatively, I noticed that the Extension object you passed to the setup function is actaully an array of modules, so how do I name the modules so that they are all under one package and can see each other?

My setup.py:

main_mod = Extension('modname',
                include_dirs = ['C:\Libraries\Boost\include',
                                'C:\Libraries\SDL\include',
                                'C:\Libraries\SDL_image\include'],

                libraries = ['libSDL',
                             'SDL_image'],

                library_dirs = ['C:\Libraries\SDL\lib',
                                'C:\Libraries\SDL_image\lib'],

                sources = ['main.cpp',
                           'Object1.cpp',
                           'Object2.cpp',
                           'Etcetera.cpp'])

So when I call: setup(name = "Some Human Readable Name, Right?", ext_modules = [main_mod]) I can add other modules to ext_modules list but what do I pass as the first parameter to 'Extension'? Do I use a dot seperated string like 'mypackage.submodule'?

More generally, how do I organize a C extension with multiple submodules? If anyone can point me to some source code which is easy to read and understand, that would be great. Thanks a lot!

Upvotes: 11

Views: 2950

Answers (2)

Fang-Pen Lin
Fang-Pen Lin

Reputation: 14406

I'm not sure that did I understand what you want. But there is kind of namespace Python package. You can put module in different place, but all of them share same package name. Here you can reference to this question How do I create a namespace package in Python?

Upvotes: 1

mithrandi
mithrandi

Reputation: 1650

I think the easiest way to do this would be to create the package in "pure python"; in other words, create mypackage/, create an empty mypackage/__init__.py , and then put your extension modules at mypackage/module1.so, mypackage/module2.so, and so on.

If you want things in mypackage instead of it being empty, you can import them from another extension module in your __init__.py.

Upvotes: 14

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