Creating python c module independent of python version?

Question

In Tcl, there is a concept of stubs, where you can have a C extension that works with any compatible version of Tcl. Is there a comparable concept for Python?

I'd like to distribute a binary module that would run on Ubuntu 8.04 (python 2.5), Ubuntu 10.04 (python 2.6), and Centos 5 (python 2.4). I'd like to only have to distribute a 32 bit and a 64 bit version for Linux that would be compatible with all 3. I'd redistribute libstdc++ and compile for glib 2.7 which is forward compatible with glib 2.11.

You might want to explain why you don't want to distribute as source (and so avoid this problem). — Gareth Rees
– Gareth Rees, Commented Dec 23, 2010 at 23:32
Possibly he's aiming to have his module independant on a compiler being installed. — richo
– richo, Commented Dec 24, 2010 at 3:55
I'd like to be able to distribute an application which uses the default python versions on the system. I don't want to have to worry that the application will break if the python version if updated. On Windows I can ask customers to download a specific version from python.org. On Mac OS X, python is already installed. On Linux I am at the mercy of each distribution having a different python version. — Juan
– Juan, Commented Dec 24, 2010 at 5:58
I removed the stubs tag, as it's previously been used just for stubs for unit testing. Alas. — Donal Fellows
– Donal Fellows, Commented Dec 24, 2010 at 6:43
You people answering this don't have a clue. Just answer his question rather than question his approach. Version independent extension libs for Python - is it so difficult to understand why this is desirable? — user567543
– user567543, Commented Jan 8, 2011 at 17:21

Katriel · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-24 02:55:52Z

4

If you distribute your module as source, it can be compiled as necessary.

This problem occurs a lot with Windows, for which modules are normally distributed as binaries. PEP 384 proposes a solution (a limited interface which is guaranteed to exist for all Python 3 versions) and is implemented in Python 3.2. Until then, you're stuck.

answered Dec 24, 2010 at 2:55

Katriel

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Juan Over a year ago

Thank you. Reading their description sounds a lot like the Tcl stubs approach.

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