[vtk-developers] Python dll suffix

[Andrew Maclean]

Hi David,
Thankyou so much for this explanation. It makes everything really clear
now. I finally understand the Python setup.
Regards
   Andrew


On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 3:19 AM, David Gobbi <david.gobbi at gmail.com> wrote:

> The "D" stands for .dylib, which is the shared library suffix on OS X.
>
> Originally, the python modules had a ".dll" suffix on Windows and
> a ".so" suffix on Linux.  This meant that python modules were really
> just shared libraries with a special python "init" function.  As far as
> the linker was concerned, there was no difference between a python
> module and a shared library.
>
> With OS X, shared libraries end in ".dylib" and python modules end
> in ".so", so it was no longer possible to have the python modules
> act as both modules, and as link libraries.  This distinction was also
> recognized by cmake (though I forget in what version).  Also, on
> Windows, python started to require that python modules end in ".pyd"
> as of python 2.5.
>
> To support OS X (and later Windows), it was necessary to break the
> python wrappers into two parts: one part that is a shared library (the
> "D" part, which is a .dylib on OS X, hence the "D"), and another part
> that is a python module.
>
>  - David
>
>
> On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 11:00 AM, Pat Marion <pat.marion at kitware.com>
> wrote:
> > I think the 'D' must stand for Dependency.  It is a bit confusing,
> because a
> > D at the end of library name usually means Debug.
> >
> > Pat
> >
> >
> > On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 9:31 AM, Jean-Christophe Fillion-Robin
> > <jchris.fillionr at kitware.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> FYI - The oldest commit I found referencing "PythonD" is the following
> one
> >> [1], it explains why there is a separation into a Python and PythonD
> >> library.
> >>
> >> Hth
> >> Jc
> >>
> >> [1] http://vtk.org/gitweb?p=VTK.git;a=commit;h=56ca4f8198
> >>
> >>
> >> On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 9:21 AM, Pat Marion <pat.marion at kitware.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi Andrew,
> >>>
> >>> For each python module there should be two libraries:
> >>>
> >>> libvtkCommonCorePythonD.so
> >>> vtkCommonCorePython.so
> >>>
> >>> The second library is the python c extension module (and it's probably
> in
> >>> a different output directory.)  I forget was the 'D' stands for, but it
> >>> doesn't mean debug.
> >>>
> >>> Pat
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 11:30 PM, Andrew Maclean
> >>> <andrew.amaclean at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hi Marcus,
> >>>>    Sorry the last message was garbled.
> >>>> I was reviewing the dlls in the windows build of VTK 6.0 and noticed
> >>>> that all the python dlls have a D suffix in the release build,
> >>>> e.g vtkAMRCorePythonD-6.0.dll, similarly on Linux e.g
> >>>> vtkAMRCorePythonD *.so*
> >>>>
> >>>> I did a quick scan through the CMakeLists.txt files but I can't see
> >>>> where D suffix is being added for the release versions.
> >>>>
> >>>> Is it intentional that these files all have the D suffix for release
> >>>> versions?
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards
> >>>>    Andrew
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> ___________________________________________
> >>>> Andrew J. P. Maclean
> >>>>
> >>>> ___________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
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> >>
> >
> >
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>



-- 
___________________________________________
Andrew J. P. Maclean

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