Python as shared library on Unix

[Martin v. Loewis]

"Rolf Kalbermatter" <r.kalbermatter at hccnet.nl> writes:

> Under Windows I have linked my app dynamically to the pythonXX.dll using
> LoadLibrary/GetProcAddress and that works very nicely. Under Linux I see
> no option to build a python.so.2.2.1 or similar to link my application
> to with the dl* functions.

I recommend that you not use a shared library. Instead, just link
libpython2.2.a to your application.

> My question is if I have overlooked some option in ./configure or
> somewhere else or if this is not possible out of the box? 

It's not possible out of the box. Python 2.3 will support that.

> If it is not available as a standard, what are the changes to get it
> working by modifying the ./configure and or Makefile scripts?

You can backport the changes from 2.3 if you want to.

> I can of course always link the Python core into my application which
> by the way is a shared library itself which is loaded dynamically
> into the main application but coming from the Windows world, this
> seems kind of unelegant to me.

I think linking the static library is more elegant. It reduces the
external dependencies, and thus the number of problem sources, in your
application. It also increases performance.

Regards,
Martin