1.1   License

SIP is licensed under the same terms as Python itself. SIP places no restrictions on the license you may apply to the bindings you create.

1.2   Features

SIP, and the bindings it produces, have the following features.

• bindings are fast to load and minimise memory consumption especially when only a small sub-set of a large library is being used
• automatic conversion between standard Python and C/C++ data types
• overloading of functions and methods with different argument signatures
• access to a C++ class's protected methods
• the ability to define a Python class that is a sub-class of a C++ class, including abstract C++ classes
• support for ordinary C++ functions, class methods, static class methods, virtual class methods and abstract class methods
• the ability to re-implement C++ virtual and abstract methods in Python
• support for global and class variables
• support for C++ namespaces
• support for C++ exceptions and wrapping them as Python exceptions
• the ability to define mappings between C++ classes and similar Python data types that are automatically invoked
• the ability to automatically exploit any available run time type information to ensure that the class of a Python instance object matches the class of the corresponding C++ instance
• full support of the Python interpreter lock, including the ability to specify that a C++ function of method may block, therefore allowing the lock to be released and other Python threads to run
• support for the concept of ownership of a C++ instance (i.e. what part of the code is responsible for calling the instance's destructor) and how the ownership may change during the execution of an application
• the ability to generate bindings for a C++ class library that itself is built on another C++ class library which also has had bindings generated so that the different bindings integrate and share code properly
• a sophisticated versioning system that allows the full lifetime of a C++ class library, including any platform specific or optional features, to be described in a single set of specification files
• the ability to include documentation in the specification files which can be extracted and subsequently processed by external tools
• the ability to include copyright notices and licensing information in the specification files that is automatically included in all generated source code
• a build system, written in Python, that you can extend to configure, compile and install your own bindings without worrying about platform specific issues
• SIP, and the bindings it produces, runs under UNIX, Linux, Windows and MacOS/X

SIP also understands the signal/slot type safe callback mechanism implemented by Qt. SIP allows new Python signals to be defined, and allows any Python callable object to be used as a slot.

1.3   SIP v3.x

SIP v3.x differs from current versions in the following respects.

• It uses Python's classic classes to wrap C++ classes (and so generated bindings can be built against any version of Python).
• It does not support the creation of bindings for C libraries.
• It does not generate bindings that will work on MacOS/X.
• It is not formally documented. However, most of this document does apply to SIP v3.x - just don't be surprised if you come across something that doesn't.

New releases of SIP v3.x may be made in the future, but no significant development will be done.

1.4   SIP Components

SIP comprises a number of different components.

• The SIP code generator (sip or sip.exe). This processes .sip specification files and generates C or C++ bindings. It is covered in detail in Using SIP.
• The SIP header file (sip.h). This contains definitions and data structures needed by the generated C and C++ code.
• The SIP module (sip.so or sip.pyd). This is a Python extension module that is imported automatically by SIP generated bindings and provides them with some common utility functions. See also Using the SIP Module in Applications.
• The SIP build system (sipconfig.py). This is a pure Python module that is created when SIP is configured and encapsulates all the necessary information about your system including relevant directory names, compiler and linker flags, version numbers. It also includes several Python classes and functions which help you write configuration scripts for your own bindings. It is covered in detail in The SIP Build System.

2.1   Downloading SIP

You can get the latest release of the SIP source code from http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/sip/download.php.

SIP is also included with all of the major Linux distributions. However, it is likely to be a version or two out of date.

You may also find more up to date pre-compiled binaries on SourceForge.

2.2   Configuring SIP

After unpacking the source package (either a .tar.gz or a .zip file depending on your platform) you should then check for any README files that relate to your platform.

Next you need to configure SIP by executing the configure.py script. For example:

python configure.py

This assumes that the Python interpreter is on your path. Something like the following may be appropriate on Windows:

c:\python23\python configure.py

If you have multiple versions of Python installed then make sure you use the interpreter for which you wish SIP to generate bindings for.

Qt support is automatically enabled if the QTDIR environment variable is set. Use the -x command line option to disable it.

The full set of command line options is:

-h	Display a help message.
-b dir	The SIP code generator will be installed in the directory dir.
-d dir	The SIP module will be installed in the directory dir.
-e dir	The SIP header file will be installed in the directory dir.
-k	The SIP module will be built as a static library. This is useful when building the SIP module as a Python builtin
-l lib	Explicitly specify the type of Qt library to use, either qt, qt-mt, qt-mtedu, qtmt, qt-mtedu or qte. This is useful if, for example, you have the non-threaded (qt) and threaded (qt-mt) versions of the Qt library installed in the same directory.
-p platform	Explicitly specify the platform/compiler to be used by the build system. If Qt support is enabled then the platform/compiler used to build Qt will be used, otherwise a platform specific default will be used. The -h option will display all the supported platform/compilers and the default.
-u	The SIP module will be built with debugging symbols.
-v dir	By default .sip files will be installed in the directory dir.
-x	Disable the SIP module's support for Qt. Support is automatically disabled if the QTDIR environment variables isn't set.

The configure.py script takes many other options that allows the build system to be finely tuned. These are of the form name=value or name+=value. The -h option will display each supported name, although not all are applicable to all platforms.

The name=value form means that value will replace the existing value of name.

The name+=value form means that value will be appended to the existing value of name.

For example, the following will reduce the size of module binaries compiled with GCC:

python configure.py CXXFLAGS+=-fno-exceptions LFLAGS+=-s

A pure Python module called sipconfig.py is generated by configure.py. This defines each name and its corresponding value. Looking at it will give you a good idea of how the build system uses the different options. It is covered in detail in The SIP Build System.

2.3   Building SIP

The next step is to build SIP by running your platform's make command. For example:

make

The final step is to install SIP by running the following command:

make install

(Depending on your system you may require root or administrator privileges.)

This will install the various SIP components.

3.1   A Simple C++ Example

We start with a simple, but complete, example. Let's say you have a C++ library that implements a single class called Word. The class has one constructor that takes a \0 terminated character string as its single argument. The class has one method called reverse() which takes no arguments and returns a \0 terminated character string. The interface to the class is defined in a header file called word.h which might look something like this:

// Define the interface to the word library.

class Word {
    const char *the_word;

public:
    Word(const char *w);

    char *reverse() const;
};

The corresponding SIP specification file would then look something like this:

// Define the SIP wrapper to the word library.

%Module word 0

class Word {

%TypeHeaderCode
#include <word.h>
%End

public:
    Word(const char *);

    char *reverse() const;
};

Obviously a SIP specification file looks very much like a C++ (or C) header file, but SIP does not include a full C++ parser. Let's look at the differences between the two files.

• The %Module directive has been added ¹. This is used to name the Python module that is being created and to give it a generation number. In this example these are word and 0 respectively. The generation number is effectively the version number of the module.
• The %TypeHeaderCode directive has been added. The text between this and the following %End directive is included literally in the code that SIP generates. Normally it is used, as in this case, to #include the corresponding C++ (or C) header file ².
• The declaration of the private variable this_word has been removed. SIP does not support access to either private or protected instance variables.
• The name of the argument to the constructor has been removed. SIP does not support named arguments ³.

If we want to we can now generate the C++ code in the current directory by running the following command:

sip -c . word.sip

However, that still leaves us with the task of compiling the generated code and linking it against all the necessary libraries. It's much easier to use the SIP build system to do the whole thing.

Using the SIP build system is simply a matter of writing a small Python script. In this simple example we will assume that the word library we are wrapping and it's header file are installed in standard system locations and will be found by the compiler and linker without having to specify any additional flags. In a more realistic example your Python script may take command line options, or search a set of directories to deal with different configurations and installations.

This is the simplest script (conventionally called configure.py):

import os
import sipconfig

# The name of the SIP build file generated by SIP and used by the build
# system.
build_file = "word.sbf"

# Get the SIP configuration information.
config = sipconfig.Configuration()

# Run SIP to generate the code.
os.system(" ".join([config.sip_bin, "-c", ".", "-b", build_file, "word.sip"]))

# Create the Makefile.
makefile = sipconfig.SIPModuleMakefile(config, build_file)

# Add the library we are wrapping.  The name doesn't include any platform
# specific prefixes or extensions (e.g. the "lib" prefix on UNIX, or the
# ".dll" extension on Windows).
makefile.extra_libs = ["word"]

# Generate the Makefile itself.
makefile.generate()

Hopefully this script is self-documenting. The key parts are the Configuration and SIPModuleMakefile classes. The build system contains other Makefile classes, for example to build programs or to call other Makefiles in sub-directories.

After running the script (using the Python interpreter the extension module is being created for) the generated C++ code and Makefile will be in the current directory.

To compile and install the extension module, just run the following commands ⁴:

make
make install

That's all there is to it.

[1]	All SIP directives start with a % in the first column.

[2]	SIP includes many code directives like this. They differ in where the supplied code is placed by SIP in the generated code.

[3]	It is planned that a future version of SIP will allow arguments to be named and that the names will be used as Python keyword arguments.

[4]	On Windows you might run nmake instead.

3.2   A Simple C Example

Let's now look at a very similar example of wrapping a C library:

/* Define the interface to the word library. */

struct Word {
    const char *the_word;
};

struct Word *create_word(const char *w);
char *reverse(struct Word *word);

The corresponding SIP specification file would then look something like this:

/* Define the SIP wrapper to the word library. */

%CModule word 0

struct Word {

%TypeHeaderCode
#include <word.h>
%End

    const char *the_word;
};

struct Word *create_word(const char *);
char *reverse(struct Word *);

Again, let's look at the differences between the two files.

• The %CModule directive has been added. This has the same syntax as the %Module directive used in the previous example but tells SIP that the library being wrapped is implemented in C rather than C++.
• The %TypeHeaderCode directive has been added.
• The names of the arguments to the functions have been removed.

The configure.py build system script described in the previous example can be used for this example without change.

3.3   A More Complex C++ Example

In this last example we will wrap a C++ library that contains a class that is derived from a Qt class. This will demonstrate how SIP allows a class hierarchy to be split across multiple Python extension modules, and will introduce SIP's versioning system.

The library contains a single C++ class called Hello which is derived from Qt's QLabel class. It behaves just like QLabel except that the text in the label is hard coded to be Hello World. To make the example more interesting we'll also say that the library only supports Qt v3.0 and later, and also includes a function called setDefault() that is not implemented in the Windows version of the library.

The hello.h header file looks something like this:

// Define the interface to the hello library.

#include <qlabel.h>
#include <qwidget.h>
#include <qstring.h>

class Hello : public QLabel {
    // This is needed by the Qt Meta-Object Compiler.
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    Hello(QWidget *parent, const char *name = 0, WFlags f = 0);

private:
    // Prevent instances from being copied.
    Hello(const Hello &);
    Hello &operator=(const Hello &);
};

#if !defined(Q_OS_WIN)
void setDefault(const QString &def);
#endif

The corresponding SIP specification file would then look something like this:

// Define the SIP wrapper to the hello library.

%Module hello 0

%Import qt/qtmod.sip

%If (Qt_3_0_0 -)

class Hello : QLabel {

%TypeHeaderCode
#include <hello.h>
%End

public:
    Hello(QWidget * /TransferThis/, const char * = 0, WFlags = 0);

private:
    Hello(const Hello &);
};

%If (!WS_WIN)
void setDefault(const QString &);
%End

%End

Again we look at the differences, but we'll skip those that we've looked at in previous examples.

• The %Import directive has been added to specify that we are extending the class hierarchy defined in the file qt/qtmod.sip. This file is part of PyQt. The build system will take care of finding the file's exact location.
• The %If (Qt_3_0_0 -) directive has been added to specify that everything ⁵ up to the matching %End directive only applies to Qt v3.0 and later. Qt_3_0_0 is a tag defined in qtmod.sip ⁶ using the %Timeline directive. %Timeline is used to define a tag for each version of a library's API you are wrapping allowing you to maintain all the different versions in a single SIP specification. The build system provides support to configure.py scripts for working out the correct tags to use according to which version of the library is actually installed.
• The public keyword used in defining the super-classes has been removed. This is not supported by SIP.
• The /TransferThis/ annotation has been added to the first argument of the constructor. It specifies that if the argument is not 0 (i.e. the Hello instance being constructed has a parent) then ownership of the instance is transferred from Python to C++. It is needed because Qt maintains objects (i.e. instances derived from the QObject class) in a hierachy. When an object is destroyed all of its children are also automatically destroyed. It is important, therefore, that the Python garbage collector doesn't also try and destroy them. This is covered in more detail in Ownership of Objects. SIP provides many other annotations that can be applied to arguments, functions and classes. Multiple annotations are separated by commas. Annotations may have values.
• The = operator has been removed. This operator is not supported by SIP.
• The %If (!WS_WIN) directive has been added to specify that everything up to the matching %End directive does not apply to Windows. WS_WIN is another tag defined by PyQt, this time using the %Platform directive. Tags defined by the %Platform directive are mutually exclusive, i.e. only one may be valid at a time ⁷.

One question you might have at this point is why bother to define the private copy constructor when it can never be called from Python? The answer is to prevent the automatic generation of a public copy constructor.

We now look at the configure.py script. This is a little different to the script in the previous examples for two related reasons.

Firstly, PyQt includes a pure Python module called pyqtconfig that extends the SIP build system for modules, like our example, that build on top of PyQt. It deals with the details of which version of Qt is being used (i.e. it determines what the correct tags are) and where it is installed. This is called a module's configuration module.

Secondly, we generate a configuration module (called helloconfig) for our own hello module. There is no need to do this, but if there is a chance that somebody else might want to extend your C++ library then it would make life easier for them.

Now we have two scripts. First the configure.py script:

import os
import sipconfig
import pyqtconfig

# The name of the SIP build file generated by SIP and used by the build
# system.
build_file = "hello.sbf"

# Get the PyQt configuration information.
config = pyqtconfig.Configuration()

# Get the extra SIP flags needed by the imported qt module.  Note that
# this normally only includes those flags (-x and -t) that relate to SIP's
# versioning system.
qt_sip_flags = config.pyqt_qt_sip_flags

# Run SIP to generate the code.  Note that we tell SIP where to find the qt
# module's specification files using the -I flag.
os.system(" ".join([config.sip_bin, "-c", ".", "-b", build_file, "-I", config.pyqt_sip_dir, qt_sip_flags, "hello.sip"]))

# We are going to install the SIP specification file for this module and
# its configuration module.
installs = []

installs.append(["hello.sip", os.path.join(config.default_sip_dir, "hello")])

installs.append(["helloconfig.py", config.default_mod_dir])

# Create the Makefile.  The QtModuleMakefile class provided by the
# pyqtconfig module takes care of all the extra preprocessor, compiler and
# linker flags needed by the Qt library.
makefile = pyqtconfig.QtModuleMakefile(
    configuration=config,
    build_file=build_file,
    installs=installs
)

# Add the library we are wrapping.  The name doesn't include any platform
# specific prefixes or extensions (e.g. the "lib" prefix on UNIX, or the
# ".dll" extension on Windows).
makefile.extra_libs = ["hello"]

# Generate the Makefile itself.
makefile.generate()

# Now we create the configuration module.  This is done by merging a Python
# dictionary (whose values are normally determined dynamically) with a
# (static) template.
content = {
    # Publish where the SIP specifications for this module will be
    # installed.
    "hello_sip_dir":    config.default_sip_dir,

    # Publish the set of SIP flags needed by this module.  As these are the
    # same flags needed by the qt module we could leave it out, but this
    # allows us to change the flags at a later date without breaking
    # scripts that import the configuration module.
    "hello_sip_flags":  qt_sip_flags
}

# This create the helloconfig.py module from the helloconfig.py.in template
# and the dictionary.
sipconfig.create_config_module("helloconfig.py", "helloconfig.py.in", content)

Next we have the helloconfig.py.in template script:

import pyqtconfig

# These are installation specific values created when Hello was configured.
# The following line will be replaced when this template is used to create
# the final configuration module.
# @SIP_CONFIGURATION@

class Configuration(pyqtconfig.Configuration):
    """The class that represents Hello configuration values.
    """
    def __init__(self, sub_cfg=None):
        """Initialise an instance of the class.

        sub_cfg is the list of sub-class configurations.  It should be None
        when called normally.
        """
        # This is all standard code to be copied verbatim except for the
        # name of the module containing the super-class.
        if sub_cfg:
            cfg = sub_cfg
        else:
            cfg = []

        cfg.append(_pkg_config)

        pyqtconfig.Configuration.__init__(self, cfg)

class HelloModuleMakefile(pyqtconfig.QtModuleMakefile):
    """The Makefile class for modules that %Import hello.
    """
    def finalise(self):
        """Finalise the macros.
        """
        # Make sure our C++ library is linked.
        self.extra_libs.append("hello")

        # Let the super-class do what it needs to.
        pyqtconfig.QtModuleMakefile.finalise(self)

Again, we hope that the scripts are self documenting.

[5]	Some parts of a SIP specification aren't subject to version control.

[6]	Actually in versions.sip. PyQt uses the %Include directive to split the SIP specification for Qt across a large number of separate .sip files.

[7]	Tags can also be defined by the %Feature directive. These tags are not mutually exclusive, i.e. any number may be valid at a time.

3.4   Ownership of Objects

When a C++ instance is wrapped a corresponding Python object is created. The Python object behaves as you would expect in regard to garbage collection - it is garbage collected when its reference count reaches zero. What then happens to the corresponding C++ instance? The obvious answer might be that the instance's destructor is called. However the library API may say that when the instance is passed to a particular function, the library takes ownership of the instance, i.e. responsibility for calling the instance's destructor is transferred from the SIP generated module to the library.

The /TransferThis/, /Transfer/ and /TransferBack/ annotations are used to specify where, and it what direction, transfers of ownership happen. It is very important that these are specified correctly to avoid crashes (where both Python and C++ call the destructor) and memory leaks (where neither Python and C++ call the destructor).

4.1   The SIP Command Line

The syntax of the SIP command line is:

sip [options] [specification]

specification is the name of the specification file for the module. If it is omitted then stdin is used.

The full set of command line options is:

-h	Display a help message.
-V	Display the SIP version number.
-a file	The name of the Scintilla API file to generate. This file contains a description of the module API in a form that the Scintilla editor component can use for auto-completion and call tips. By default the file is not generated.
-b file	The name of the build file to generate. This file contains the information about the module needed by the SIP build system to generate a platform and compiler specific Makefile for the module. By default the file is not generated.
-c dir	The name of the directory (which must exist) into which all of the generated C or C++ code is placed. By default no code is generated.
-d file	The name of the documentation file to generate. Documentation is included in specification files using the %Doc and %ExportedDoc directives. By default the file is not generated.
-e	Support for C++ exceptions is enabled. The causes all calls to C++ code to be enclosed in try/catch blocks and C++ exceptions converted to Python exceptions. By default exception support is disabled.
-g	The GIL is always released when making calls to C or C++ code and reacquired on return. (This is the SIP v3.x behaviour.) By default the enhanced GIL management functions described in PEP 311 are used so that the GIL is released only when necessary.
-I dir	The directory is added to the list of directories searched when looking for a specification file given in an %Include or %Import directive. This option may be given any number of times.
-j number	The generated code is split into the given number of files. This make it easier to use the parallel build facility of most modern implementations of make. By default 1 file is generated for each C structure or C++ class.
-r	Debugging statements that trace the execution of the bindings are automatically generated. By default the statements are not generated.
-s suffix	The suffix to use for generated C or C++ source files. By default .c is used for C and .cpp for C++.
-t tag	The SIP version tag (defined using the %Timeline directive) or the SIP platform tag (defined using the %Platforms directive) to generate code for. This option may be given any number of times so long as the tags do not conflict.
-w	The display of warning messages is enabled. By default warning messages are disabled.
-x feature	The feature (defined using the %Feature directive) is disabled.
-z file	The name of a file containing more command line options.

6.1   sipconfig Functions

create_config_module(module, template, content)

This creates a configuration module (e.g. pyqtconfig) from a template file and a string.

module is the name of the configuration module file to create.

template is the name of the template file.

content is a string which replaces every occurence of the pattern @SIP_CONFIGURATION@ in the template file. The content string is usually created from a Python dictionary using sipconfig.create_content().

create_content(dict, dictname="_pkg_config")

This converts a Python dictionary to a string that can be parsed by the Python interpreter and converted back to an equivalent dictionary. It is typically used to generate the content string for sipconfig.create_config_module().

dict is the Python dictionary to convert.

dictname is the optional name of the dictionary.

Returns the dictionary as a string.

error(msg)

This displays an error message on stderr and calls sys.exit() with a value of 1.

msg is the text of the message and should not include any newline characters.

format(msg, leftmargin=0, rightmargin=78)

This formats a message by inserting newline characters at appropriate places.

msg is the text of the message and should not include any newline characters.

leftmargin is the optional position of the left margin.

rightmargin is the optional position of the right margin.

inform(msg)

This displays an information message on stdout.

msg is the text of the message and should not include any newline characters.

read_version(filename, description, numdefine=None, strdefine=None)

This extracts version information for a package from a file, usually a C or C++ header file. The version information must each be specified as a #define of a numeric (hexadecimal or decimal) value and/or a string value.

filename is the name of the file to read.

description is a descriptive name of the package used in error messages.

numdefine is the optional name of the #define of the version as a number. If it is None then the numeric version is ignored.

strdefine is the optional name of the #define of the version as a string. If it is None then the string version is ignored.

Returns a tuple of the numeric and string versions. sipconfig.error() is called if either were required but could not be found.

version_to_sip_tag(version, tags, description)

This converts a version number to a SIP version tag. SIP uses the %Timeline directive to define the chronology of the different versions of the C/C++ library being wrapped. Typically it is not necessary to define a version tag for every version of the library, but only for those versions that affect the library's API as SIP sees it.

version is the numeric version number of the C/C++ library being wrapped. If it is negative then the latest version is assumed. (This is typically useful if a snapshot is indicated by a negative version number.)

tags is the dictionary of SIP version tags keyed by the corresponding C/C++ library version number. The tag used is the one with the smallest key (i.e. earliest version) that is greater than version.

description is a descriptive name of the C/C++ library used in error messages.

Returns the SIP version tag. sipconfig.error() is called if the C/C++ library version number did not correspond to a SIP version tag.

version_to_string(v)

This converts a 3 part version number encoded as a hexadecimal value to a string.

v is the version number.

Returns a string.

6.2   sipconfig Classes

Configuration

This class encapsulates configuration values that can be accessed as instance objects. A sub-class may provide a dictionary of additional configuration values in its constructor the elements of which will have precedence over the super-class's values.

The following configuration values are provided:

default_bin_dir

The name of the directory where executables should be installed by default.

default_mod_dir

The name of the directory where SIP generated modules should be installed by default.

default_sip_dir

The name of the base directory where the .sip files for SIP generated modules should be installed by default. A sub-directory with the same name as the module should be created and its .sip files should be installed in the sub-directory. The .sip files only need to be installed if you might want to build other bindings based on them.

py_inc_dir

The name of the directory containing the Python.h header file.

py_lib_dir

The name of the directory containing the Python interpreter library.

py_version

The Python version as a 3 part hexadecimal number (e.g. v2.3.3 is represented as 0x020303).

qt_dir

The name of the Qt base directory. The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_edition

The name of the Qt edition (e.g. enterprise, professional, free). The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_inc_dir

The name of the Qt include directory. The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_lib

The name of the Qt library with platform dependent prefixes, suffixes and version numbers removed (e.g. qt, qt-mt). The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_lib_dir

The name of the Qt library directory. The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_prl_libs

The additional libraries that need to be linked when linking the Qt library. The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_threaded

A non-zero value if the Qt library includes support for threads. The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

qt_version

The Qt version as a 3 part hexadecimal number (e.g. v3.3.0 is represented as 0x030300). It is 0 if Qt support is disabled.

qt_winconfig

A string describing the Qt configuration under Windows. The value is not present if Qt support is disabled.

sip_bin

The full pathname of the SIP executable.

sip_inc_dir

The name of the directory containing the sip.h header file.

sip_mod_dir

The name of the directory containing the SIP module.

sip_version

The SIP version as a 3 part hexadecimal number (e.g. v4.0.0 is represented as 0x040000).

sip_version_str

The SIP version as a string. For development snapshots it will start with snapshot-.

__init__(self, sub_cfg=None)

Initialise the instance.

sub_cfg is an optional list of sub-class configurations. It should only be used by the __init__() method of a sub-class to append its own dictionary of configuration values before passing the list to its super-class.

Makefile

This class encapsulates a Makefile. It is intended to be sub-classed to generate Makefiles for particular purposes. It handles all platform and compiler specific flags, but allows them to be adjusted to suit the requirements of a particular module or program. These are defined using a number of macros which can be accessed as instance objects.

The following instance objects are provided to help in fine tuning the generated Makefile:

chkdir

A string that will check for the existence of a directory.

config

A reference to the configuration argument that was passed to the constructor.

console

A reference to the console argument that was passed to the constructor.

copy

A string that will copy a file.

extra_cflags

A list of additional flags passed to the C compiler.

extra_cxxflags

A list of additional flags passed to the C++ compiler.

extra_defines

A list of additional macro names passed to the C/C++ preprocessor.

extra_include_dirs

A list of additional include directories passed to the C/C++ preprocessor.

extra_lflags

A list of additional flags passed to the linker.

extra_lib_dirs

A list of additional library directories passed to the linker.

extra_libs

A list of additional libraries passed to the linker. The names of the libraries must be in platform neutral form (i.e. without any platform specific prefixes, version numbers or extensions).

generator

A string that defines the platform specific style of Makefile. The only supported values are UNIX and something else that is not UNIX.

mkdir

A string that will create a directory.

rm

A string that will remove a file.

__init__(self, configuration, console=0, qt=0, opengl=0, python=0, threaded=0, warnings=None, debug=0, dir=None, makefile="Makefile", installs=None)

Initialise the instance.

configuration is the current configuration and is an instance of the Configuration class or a sub-class.

console is set if the target is a console (rather than GUI) target. This only affects Windows and is ignored on other platforms.

qt is set if the target uses Qt.

opengl is set if the target uses OpenGL.

python is set if the target uses Python.h.

threaded is set if the target requires thread support. It is set automatically if the target uses Qt and Qt has thread support enabled.

warnings is set if compiler warning messages should be enabled. The default of None means that warnings are enabled for SIP v4.x and disabled for SIP v3.x.

debug is set if debugging symbols should be generated.

dir is the name of the directory where build files are read from and Makefiles are written to. The default of None means the current directory is used.

makefile is the name of the generated Makefile.

installs is a list of extra install targets. Each element is a two part list, the first of which is the source and the second is the destination. If the source is another list then it is a list of source files and the destination is a directory.

clean_build_file_objects(self, mfile, build)

This generates the Makefile commands that will remove any files generated during the build of the default target.

mfile is the Python file object of the Makefile.

build is the dictionary created from parsing the build file.

finalise(self)

This is called just before the Makefile is generated to ensure that it is fully configured. It must be reimplemented by a sub-class.

generate(self)

This generates the Makefile.

generate_macros_and_rules(self, mfile)

This is the default implementation of the Makefile macros and rules generation.

mfile is the Python file object of the Makefile.

generate_target_clean(self, mfile)

This is the default implementation of the Makefile clean target generation.

mfile is the Python file object of the Makefile.

generate_target_default(self, mfile)

This is the default implementation of the Makefile default target generation.

mfile is the Python file object of the Makefile.

generate_target_install(self, mfile)

This is the default implementation of the Makefile install target generation.

mfile is the Python file object of the Makefile.

install_file(self, mfile, src, dst)

This generates the Makefile commands to install one or more files to a directory.

mfile is the Python file object of the Makefile.

src is the name of a single file to install or a list of a number of files to install.

dst is the name of the destination directory.

optional_list(self, name)

This returns an optional Makefile macro as a list.

name is the name of the macro.

Returns the macro as a list.

optional_string(self, name, default="")

This returns an optional Makefile macro as a string.

name is the name of the macro.

default is the optional default value of the macro.

Returns the macro as a string.

parse_build_file(self, filename)

This parses a build file (created with the -b SIP command line option).

filename is the name of the build file.

Returns a dictionary corresponding to the parsed build file.

platform_lib(self, clib)

This converts a library name to a platform specific form.

clib is the name of the library in cannonical form.

Return the platform specific name.

ready(self)

This is called to ensure that the Makefile is fully configured. It is normally called automatically when needed.

required_string(self, name)

This returns a required Makefile macro as a string.

name is the name of the macro.

Returns the macro as a string. An exception is raised if the macro does not exist or has an empty value.

ModuleMakefile(Makefile)

This class encapsulates a Makefile to build a generic Python extension module.

__init__(self, configuration, build_file, install_dir=None, static=0, console=0, opengl=0, threaded=0, warnings=None, debug=0, dir=None, makefile="Makefile", installs=None)

Initialise the instance.

configuration - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

build_file is the name of the build file. Build files are generated using the -b SIP command line option.

install_dir is the name of the directory where the module will be optionally installed.

static is set if the module should be built as a static library.

console - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

qt - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

opengl - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

threaded - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

warnings - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

debug - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

dir - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

makefile - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

installs - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

finalise(self)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.finalise().

generate_macros_and_rules(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_macros_and_rules().

generate_target_clean(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_clean().

generate_target_default(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_default().

generate_target_install(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_install().

module_as_lib(self, mname)

This returns the name of a SIP v3.x module for when it is used as a library to be linked against. An exception will be raised if it is used with SIP v4.x modules.

mname is the name of the module.

Returns the corresponding library name.

ParentMakefile(Makefile)

This class encapsulates a Makefile that sits above a number of other Makefiles in sub-directories.

__init__(self, configuration, subdirs, dir=None, makefile="Makefile", installs=None)

Initialise the instance.

configuration - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

subdirs is the sequence of sub-directories.

dir - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

makefile - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

installs - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

generate_macros_and_rules(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_macros_and_rules().

generate_target_clean(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_clean().

generate_target_default(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_default().

generate_target_install(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_install().

ProgramMakefile(Makefile)

This class encapsulates a Makefile to build an executable program.

__init__(self, configuration, build_file=None, install_dir=None, console=0, qt=0, opengl=0, python=0, threaded=0, warnings=None, debug=0, dir=None, makefile="Makefile", installs=None)

Initialise the instance.

configuration - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

build_file is the name of the optional build file. Build files are generated using the -b SIP command line option.

install_dir is the name of the directory where the executable program will be optionally installed.

console - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

qt - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

opengl - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

python - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

threaded - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

warnings - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

debug - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

dir - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

makefile - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

installs - see sipconfig.Makefile.__init__().

build_command(self, source)

This creates a single command line that will create an executable program from a single source file.

source is the name of the source file.

Returns a tuple of the name of the executable that will be created and the command line.

finalise(self)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.finalise().

generate_macros_and_rules(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_macros_and_rules().

generate_target_clean(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_clean().

generate_target_default(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_default().

generate_target_install(self, mfile)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.generate_target_install().

SIPModuleMakefile(ModuleMakefile)

This class encapsulates a Makefile to build a SIP generated Python extension module.

finalise(self)

This is a reimplementation of sipconfig.Makefile.finalise().