From: Benjamin Peterson Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2015 20:38:46 +0000 (-0600) Subject: emphasize that cffi is better than extension modules for portability X-Git-Tag: v3.4.3rc1~175 X-Git-Url: https://granicus.if.org/sourcecode?a=commitdiff_plain;h=63b55580fbe496204100e548ad41a10d933cc470;p=python emphasize that cffi is better than extension modules for portability --- diff --git a/Doc/extending/extending.rst b/Doc/extending/extending.rst index e78fe0c4b1..c10efa976d 100644 --- a/Doc/extending/extending.rst +++ b/Doc/extending/extending.rst @@ -20,12 +20,17 @@ source file by including the header ``"Python.h"``. The compilation of an extension module depends on its intended use as well as on your system setup; details are given in later chapters. -Do note that if your use case is calling C library functions or system calls, -you should consider using the :mod:`ctypes` module rather than writing custom -C code. Not only does :mod:`ctypes` let you write Python code to interface -with C code, but it is more portable between implementations of Python than -writing and compiling an extension module which typically ties you to CPython. +.. note:: + The C extension interface is specific to CPython, and extension modules do + not work on other Python implementations. In many cases, it is possible to + avoid writing C extensions and preserve portability to other implementations. + For example, if your use case is calling C library functions or system calls, + you should consider using the :mod:`ctypes` module or the `cffi + `_ library rather than writing custom C code. + These modules let you write Python code to interface with C code and are more + portable between implementations of Python than writing and compiling a C + extension module. .. _extending-simpleexample: