python_doc_md/Advanced/c-api/extension-modules.md

Defining extension modules {#extension-modules}

A C extension for CPython is a shared library (for example, a .so file on Linux, .pyd DLL on Windows), which is loadable into the Python process (for example, it is compiled with compatible compiler settings), and which exports an export hook{.interpreted-text role="dfn"} function (or an old-style initialization function <extension-pyinit>{.interpreted-text role="ref"}).

To be importable by default (that is, by importlib.machinery.ExtensionFileLoader{.interpreted-text role="py:class"}), the shared library must be available on sys.path{.interpreted-text role="py:attr"}, and must be named after the module name plus an extension listed in importlib.machinery.EXTENSION_SUFFIXES{.interpreted-text role="py:attr"}.

:::: note ::: title Note :::

Building, packaging and distributing extension modules is best done with third-party tools, and is out of scope of this document. One suitable tool is Setuptools, whose documentation can be found at https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/setuptools.html. ::::

Extension export hook

::: versionadded 3.15

Support for the PyModExport_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"} export hook was added in Python 3.15. The older way of defining modules is still available: consult either the extension-pyinit{.interpreted-text role="ref"} section or earlier versions of this documentation if you plan to support earlier Python versions. :::

The export hook must be an exported function with the following signature:

For modules with ASCII-only names, the export hook <extension-export-hook>{.interpreted-text role="ref"} must be named PyModExport_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"}, with <name> replaced by the module's name.

For non-ASCII module names, the export hook must instead be named PyModExportU_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"} (note the U), with <name> encoded using Python's punycode encoding with hyphens replaced by underscores. In Python:

def hook_name(name):
    try:
        suffix = b'_' + name.encode('ascii')
    except UnicodeEncodeError:
        suffix = b'U_' + name.encode('punycode').replace(b'-', b'_')
    return b'PyModExport' + suffix

The export hook returns an array of PyModuleDef_Slot{.interpreted-text role="c:type"} entries, terminated by an entry with a slot ID of 0. These slots describe how the module should be created and initialized.

This array must remain valid and constant until interpreter shutdown. Typically, it should use static storage. Prefer using the Py_mod_create{.interpreted-text role="c:macro"} and Py_mod_exec{.interpreted-text role="c:macro"} slots for any dynamic behavior.

The export hook may return NULL with an exception set to signal failure.

It is recommended to define the export hook function using a helper macro:

Declare an extension module export hook. This macro:

• specifies the PyModuleDef_Slot*{.interpreted-text role="c:expr"} return type,
• adds any special linkage declarations required by the platform, and
• for C++, declares the function as extern "C".

For example, a module called spam would be defined like this:

PyABIInfo_VAR(abi_info);

static PyModuleDef_Slot spam_slots[] = {
    {Py_mod_abi, &abi_info},
    {Py_mod_name, "spam"},
    {Py_mod_init, spam_init_function},
    ...
    {0, NULL},
};

PyMODEXPORT_FUNC
PyModExport_spam(void)
{
    return spam_slots;
}

The export hook is typically the only non-static item defined in the module's C source.

The hook should be kept short -- ideally, one line as above. If you do need to use Python C API in this function, it is recommended to call PyABIInfo_Check(&abi_info, "modulename") first to raise an exception, rather than crash, in common cases of ABI mismatch.

:::: note ::: title Note :::

It is possible to export multiple modules from a single shared library by defining multiple export hooks. However, importing them requires a custom importer or suitably named copies/links of the extension file, because Python's import machinery only finds the function corresponding to the filename. See the Multiple modules in one library section in 489{.interpreted-text role="pep"} for details. ::::

Multi-phase initialization

The process of creating an extension module follows several phases:

• Python finds and calls the export hook to get information on how to create the module.
• Before any substantial code is executed, Python can determine which capabilities the module supports, and it can adjust the environment or refuse loading an incompatible extension. Slots like Py_mod_abi{.interpreted-text role="c:data"}, Py_mod_gil{.interpreted-text role="c:data"} and Py_mod_multiple_interpreters{.interpreted-text role="c:data"} influence this step.
• By default, Python itself then creates the module object -- that is, it does the equivalent of calling ~object.__new__{.interpreted-text role="py:meth"} when creating an object. This step can be overridden using the Py_mod_create{.interpreted-text role="c:data"} slot.
• Python sets initial module attributes like ~module.__package__{.interpreted-text role="attr"} and ~module.__loader__{.interpreted-text role="attr"}, and inserts the module object into sys.modules{.interpreted-text role="py:attr"}.
• Afterwards, the module object is initialized in an extension-specific way -- the equivalent of ~object.__init__{.interpreted-text role="py:meth"} when creating an object, or of executing top-level code in a Python-language module. The behavior is specified using the Py_mod_exec{.interpreted-text role="c:data"} slot.

This is called multi-phase initialization to distinguish it from the legacy (but still supported) single-phase initialization <single-phase-initialization>{.interpreted-text role="ref"}, where an initialization function returns a fully constructed module.

::: versionchanged 3.5

Added support for multi-phase initialization (489{.interpreted-text role="pep"}). :::

Multiple module instances

By default, extension modules are not singletons. For example, if the sys.modules{.interpreted-text role="py:attr"} entry is removed and the module is re-imported, a new module object is created and, typically, populated with fresh method and type objects. The old module is subject to normal garbage collection. This mirrors the behavior of pure-Python modules.

Additional module instances may be created in sub-interpreters <sub-interpreter-support>{.interpreted-text role="ref"} or after Python runtime reinitialization (Py_Finalize{.interpreted-text role="c:func"} and Py_Initialize{.interpreted-text role="c:func"}). In these cases, sharing Python objects between module instances would likely cause crashes or undefined behavior.

To avoid such issues, each instance of an extension module should be isolated: changes to one instance should not implicitly affect the others, and all state owned by the module, including references to Python objects, should be specific to a particular module instance. See isolating-extensions-howto{.interpreted-text role="ref"} for more details and a practical guide.

A simpler way to avoid these issues is raising an error on repeated initialization <isolating-extensions-optout>{.interpreted-text role="ref"}.

All modules are expected to support sub-interpreters <sub-interpreter-support>{.interpreted-text role="ref"}, or otherwise explicitly signal a lack of support. This is usually achieved by isolation or blocking repeated initialization, as above. A module may also be limited to the main interpreter using the Py_mod_multiple_interpreters{.interpreted-text role="c:data"} slot.

PyInit function {#extension-pyinit}

::: deprecated 3.15

This functionality is soft deprecated{.interpreted-text role="term"}. It will not get new features, but there are no plans to remove it. :::

Instead of PyModExport_modulename{.interpreted-text role="c:func"}, an extension module can define an older-style initialization function{.interpreted-text role="dfn"} with the signature:

Its name should be PyInit_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"}, with <name> replaced by the name of the module. For non-ASCII module names, use PyInitU_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"} instead, with <name> encoded in the same way as for the export hook <extension-export-hook>{.interpreted-text role="ref"} (that is, using Punycode with underscores).

If a module exports both PyInit_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"} and PyModExport_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"}, the PyInit_{<name>}{.interpreted-text role="samp"} function is ignored.

Like with PyMODEXPORT_FUNC{.interpreted-text role="c:macro"}, it is recommended to define the initialization function using a helper macro:

Declare an extension module initialization function. This macro:

• specifies the PyObject*{.interpreted-text role="c:expr"} return type,
• adds any special linkage declarations required by the platform, and
• for C++, declares the function as extern "C".

Normally, the initialization function (PyInit_modulename) returns a PyModuleDef{.interpreted-text role="c:type"} instance with non-NULL ~PyModuleDef.m_slots{.interpreted-text role="c:member"}. This allows Python to use multi-phase initialization <multi-phase-initialization>{.interpreted-text role="ref"}.

Before it is returned, the PyModuleDef instance must be initialized using the following function:

Ensure a module definition is a properly initialized Python object that correctly reports its type and a reference count.

Return def cast to PyObject*, or NULL if an error occurred.

Calling this function is required before returning a PyModuleDef{.interpreted-text role="c:type"} from a module initialization function. It should not be used in other contexts.

Note that Python assumes that PyModuleDef structures are statically allocated. This function may return either a new reference or a borrowed one; this reference must not be released.

::: versionadded 3.5 :::

For example, a module called spam would be defined like this:

static struct PyModuleDef spam_module = {
    .m_base = PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
    .m_name = "spam",
    ...
};

PyMODINIT_FUNC
PyInit_spam(void)
{
    return PyModuleDef_Init(&spam_module);
}

Legacy single-phase initialization {#single-phase-initialization}

::: deprecated 3.15

Single-phase initialization is soft deprecated{.interpreted-text role="term"}. It is a legacy mechanism to initialize extension modules, with known drawbacks and design flaws. Extension module authors are encouraged to use multi-phase initialization instead.

However, there are no plans to remove support for it. :::

In single-phase initialization, the old-style initialization function <extension-pyinit>{.interpreted-text role="ref"} (PyInit_modulename) should create, populate and return a module object. This is typically done using PyModule_Create{.interpreted-text role="c:func"} and functions like PyModule_AddObjectRef{.interpreted-text role="c:func"}.

Single-phase initialization differs from the default <multi-phase-initialization>{.interpreted-text role="ref"} in the following ways:

• Single-phase modules are, or rather contain, "singletons".

  When the module is first initialized, Python saves the contents of the module's __dict__ (that is, typically, the module's functions and types).

  For subsequent imports, Python does not call the initialization function again. Instead, it creates a new module object with a new __dict__, and copies the saved contents to it. For example, given a single-phase module _testsinglephase [^1] that defines a function sum and an exception class error:

  >>> import sys
  >>> import _testsinglephase as one
  >>> del sys.modules['_testsinglephase']
  >>> import _testsinglephase as two
  >>> one is two
  False
  >>> one.__dict__ is two.__dict__
  False
  >>> one.sum is two.sum
  True
  >>> one.error is two.error
  True
  

  The exact behavior should be considered a CPython implementation detail.

• To work around the fact that PyInit_modulename does not take a spec argument, some state of the import machinery is saved and applied to the first suitable module created during the PyInit_modulename call. Specifically, when a sub-module is imported, this mechanism prepends the parent package name to the name of the module.

  A single-phase PyInit_modulename function should create "its" module object as soon as possible, before any other module objects can be created.

• Non-ASCII module names (PyInitU_modulename) are not supported.

• Single-phase modules support module lookup functions like PyState_FindModule{.interpreted-text role="c:func"}.

• The module's PyModuleDef.m_slots{.interpreted-text role="c:member"} must be NULL.

[^1]: _testsinglephase is an internal module used in CPython's self-test suite; your installation may or may not include it.