|
Boost.PythonBuilding and Testing |
Every Boost.Python extension module must be linked with the
boost_python
shared library. To build
boost_python
, use Boost.Build in the usual way from
the libs/python/build
subdirectory of your boost
installation (if you have already built boost from the top level this may
have no effect, since the work is already done).
Variable Name | Semantics | Default | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
PYTHON_ROOT |
The root directory of your Python installation | Windows: c:/tools/python
Unix: /usr/local |
On Unix, this is the --with-prefix= directory used
to configure Python |
PYTHON_VERSION |
The The 2-part python Major.Minor version number | 2.2 |
Be sure not to include a third number, e.g. not
"2.2.1 ", even if that's the version you have. |
PYTHON_INCLUDES |
path to Python #include directories |
Autoconfigured from PYTHON_ROOT |
|
PYTHON_LIB_PATH |
path to Python library object. | Autoconfigured from PYTHON_ROOT |
|
PYTHON_STDLIB_PATH |
path to Python standard library modules | Autoconfigured from PYTHON_ROOT |
|
CYGWIN_ROOT |
path to the user's Cygwin installation | Cygwin only. This and the following two settings are useful when building with multiple toolsets on Windows, since Cygwin requires a different build of Python. | |
GCC_PYTHON_ROOT |
path to the user's Cygwin Python installation | $(CYGWIN_ROOT)/usr/local |
Cygwin only |
GCC_DEBUG_PYTHON_ROOT |
path to the user's Cygwin pydebug build |
$(CYGWIN_ROOT)/usr/local/pydebug |
Cygwin only |
The build process will create a
libs/python/build/bin-stage
subdirectory of the boost root
(or of $(ALL_LOCATE_TARGET)
, if you have set that variable),
containing the built libraries. The libraries are actually built to
unique directories for each toolset and variant elsewhere in the
filesystem, and copied to the bin-stage
directory as a
convenience, so if you build with multiple toolsets at once, the product
of later toolsets will overwrite that of earlier toolsets in
bin-stage
.
To build and test Boost.Python, start from the
libs/python/test
directory and invoke
This will update all of the Boost.Python v1 test and example targets. The tests are relatively quiet by default. To get more-verbose output, you might trybjam -sTOOLS=toolset test
which will print each test's Python code with the expected output as it passes.bjam -sTOOLS=toolset -sPYTHON_TEST_ARGS=-v test
libs/python/example
subdirectory of your boost installation
contains a minimal example (along with many extra sources). To copy the
example subproject:
libs/python
, say
libs/python/my_project
.libs/python/example/Jamfile
to your new
directory.subproject
" rule invocation at the top, and
the names of some of the source files and/or targets.this archive
. You'll need to edit the
Jamfile and Jamrules files, depending on the relative location of your
Boost installation and the new project. Note that automatic testing of
extension modules is not available in this configuration.
BUILD
variable:
release
(optimization, -DNDEBUG)debug
(no optimization -D_DEBUG)debug-python
(no optimization, -D_DEBUG
-DBOOST_DEBUG_PYTHON)The first two variants of the boost_python
library are
built by default, and are compatible with the default Python
distribution. The debug-python
variant corresponds to a
specially-built debugging version of Python. On Unix platforms, this
python is built by adding --with-pydebug
when configuring
the Python build. On Windows, the debugging version of Python is
generated by the "Win32 Debug" target of the PCBuild.dsw
Visual C++ 6.0 project in the PCBuild
subdirectory of your
Python distribution. Extension modules built with Python debugging
enabled are not link-compatible with a non-debug build of Python.
Since few people actually have a debug build of Python (it doesn't come
with the standard distribution), the normal debug
variant
builds modules which are compatible with ordinary Python.
On many windows compilers, when extension modules are built with
-D_DEBUG, Python defaults to force linking with a special
debugging version of the Python DLL. Since this debug DLL isn't supplied
with the default Python installation for Windows, Boost.Python uses
boost/python/detail/wrap_python.hpp
to temporarily undefine _DEBUG when Python.h is
#included - unless BOOST_DEBUG_PYTHON
is
defined.
If you want the extra runtime checks available with the debugging
version of the library, #define BOOST_DEBUG_PYTHON to re-enable
python debuggin, and link with the debug-python
variant of
boost_python.
If you do not #define BOOST_DEBUG_PYTHON, be sure that any
source files in your extension module #include <boost/python/detail/wrap_python.hpp>
instead of the usual Python.h, or you will have link
incompatibilities.
© Copyright David Abrahams 2002. Permission to copy, use, modify, sell and distribute this document is granted provided this copyright notice appears in all copies. This document is provided ``as is'' without express or implied warranty, and with no claim as to its suitability for any purpose.
Updated: O8 October, 2002 (David Abrahams)