ctypes 0.9.0 released
Thomas Heller
theller at python.net
Fri Jul 23 20:22:15 CEST 2004
ctypes 0.9.0 released
=====================
Overview
ctypes is a ffi (Foreign Function Interface) package for Python.
It allows to call functions exposed from dlls/shared libraries and
has extensive facilities to create, access and manipulate simpole
and complicated C data types transparently from Python - in other
words: wrap libraries in pure Python.
ctypes runs on Windows, MacOS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD. It may
also run on other systems, provided that libffi supports this
platform.
Changes in 0.9.0
ctypes now requires Python 2.3 or higher, Python 2.2 is no longer
supported.
The big change is that ctypes now uses the same code base on all
platforms, many, many bug should have been fixed this way on
non-windows systems. The destribution now contains libffi, no need
to find, download, build and install a compatible version.
There have been lots of improvements and additions both to ctypes
itself, and to the ctypes.com windows framework, too many to
remember now and document here.
Most prominent additions to ctypes.com are:
A ctypes.com.client module supporting dynamic dispatch
An internet explorer toolband sample
Many improvements to the stoplite sample
Detailed changelogs are in CVS (well, sometimes I forget to update
them):
<http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/ctypes/ctypes/ChangeLog?rev=HEAD>
<http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/ctypes/ctypes/win32/com/ChangeLog?rev=HEAD>
Future plans
The ultimate purpose of the 0.9 release series is to shake out the
remaining bugs, especially on platforms I have no access to, and to
target a rock stable ctypes 1.0 release.
When ctypes 1.0 is released, the com framework will be split off
into a separate framework named 'comtypes'.
Download
Downloads are available in the sourceforge files section
<http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71702>
Separate source distributions are available for windows and
non-windows systems. Please use the .zip file for Windows (it
contains the ctypes.com framework), and use the .tar.gz file for
non-Windows systems (it contains the complete cross-platform libffi
sources).
Binary windows installers, which contain compiled extension
modules, are also available, be sure to download the correct one
for the
Python version you are using.
Homepage
<http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/>
Enjoy,
Thomas
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