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<div class="section" id="introduction">
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<h1>Introduction<a class="headerlink" href="#introduction" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
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<p>This is the reference guide for SIP 4.10.5. SIP is a tool for
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automatically generating <a class="reference external" href="http://www.python.org">Python</a> bindings for C and
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C++ libraries. SIP was originally developed in 1998 for
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<a class="reference external" href="http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt">PyTQt</a> - the Python
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bindings for the TQt GUI toolkit - but is suitable for generating bindings for
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any C or C++ library.</p>
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<p>This version of SIP generates bindings for Python v2.3 or later, including
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Python v3.</p>
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<p>There are many other similar tools available. One of the original such tools
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is <a class="reference external" href="http://www.swig.org">SWIG</a> and, in fact, SIP is so called because it
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started out as a small SWIG. Unlike SWIG, SIP is specifically designed for
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bringing together Python and C/C++ and goes to great lengths to make the
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integration as tight as possible.</p>
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<p>The homepage for SIP is <a class="reference external" href="http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/sip">http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/sip</a>. Here
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you will always find the latest stable version and the latest version of this
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documentation.</p>
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<p>SIP can also be downloaded from the
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<a class="reference external" href="http://mercurial.selenic.com/">Mercurial</a> repository at
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<a class="reference external" href="http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/hg/sip">http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/hg/sip</a>.</p>
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<div class="section" id="license">
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<h2>License<a class="headerlink" href="#license" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>SIP is licensed under similar terms as Python itself. SIP is also licensed
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under the GPL (both v2 and v3). It is your choice as to which license you
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use. If you choose the GPL then any bindings you create must be distributed
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under the terms of the GPL.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="features">
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<h2>Features<a class="headerlink" href="#features" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>SIP, and the bindings it produces, have the following features:</p>
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<ul class="simple">
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<li>bindings are fast to load and minimise memory consumption especially when
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only a small sub-set of a large library is being used</li>
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<li>automatic conversion between standard Python and C/C++ data types</li>
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<li>overloading of functions and methods with different argument signatures</li>
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<li>support for Python’s keyword argument syntax</li>
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<li>support for both explicitly specified and automatically generated docstrings</li>
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<li>access to a C++ class’s protected methods</li>
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<li>the ability to define a Python class that is a sub-class of a C++ class,
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including abstract C++ classes</li>
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<li>Python sub-classes can implement the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">__dtor__()</span></tt> method which will be
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called from the C++ class’s virtual destructor</li>
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<li>support for ordinary C++ functions, class methods, static class methods,
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virtual class methods and abstract class methods</li>
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<li>the ability to re-implement C++ virtual and abstract methods in Python</li>
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<li>support for global and class variables</li>
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<li>support for global and class operators</li>
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<li>support for C++ namespaces</li>
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<li>support for C++ templates</li>
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<li>support for C++ exceptions and wrapping them as Python exceptions</li>
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<li>the automatic generation of complementary rich comparison slots</li>
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<li>support for deprecation warnings</li>
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<li>the ability to define mappings between C++ classes and similar Python data
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types that are automatically invoked</li>
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<li>the ability to automatically exploit any available run time type information
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to ensure that the class of a Python instance object matches the class of the
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corresponding C++ instance</li>
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<li>the ability to change the type and meta-type of the Python object used to
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wrap a C/C++ data type</li>
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<li>full support of the Python global interpreter lock, including the ability to
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specify that a C++ function of method may block, therefore allowing the lock
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to be released and other Python threads to run</li>
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<li>support for consolidated modules where the generated wrapper code for a
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number of related modules may be included in a single, possibly private,
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module</li>
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<li>support for the concept of ownership of a C++ instance (i.e. what part of the
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code is responsible for calling the instance’s destructor) and how the
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ownership may change during the execution of an application</li>
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<li>the ability to generate bindings for a C++ class library that itself is built
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on another C++ class library which also has had bindings generated so that
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the different bindings integrate and share code properly</li>
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<li>a sophisticated versioning system that allows the full lifetime of a C++
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class library, including any platform specific or optional features, to be
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described in a single set of specification files</li>
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<li>the ability to include documentation in the specification files which can be
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extracted and subsequently processed by external tools</li>
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<li>the ability to include copyright notices and licensing information in the
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specification files that is automatically included in all generated source
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code</li>
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<li>a build system, written in Python, that you can extend to configure, compile
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and install your own bindings without worrying about platform specific issues</li>
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<li>support for building your extensions using distutils</li>
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<li>SIP, and the bindings it produces, runs under UNIX, Linux, Windows and
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MacOS/X</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="sip-components">
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<h2>SIP Components<a class="headerlink" href="#sip-components" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>SIP comprises a number of different components.</p>
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<ul class="simple">
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<li>The SIP code generator (<strong>sip</strong>). This processes <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.sip</span></tt>
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specification files and generates C or C++ bindings. It is covered in detail
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in <a class="reference external" href="using.html#ref-using"><em>Using SIP</em></a>.</li>
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<li>The SIP header file (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sip.h</span></tt>). This contains definitions and data
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structures needed by the generated C and C++ code.</li>
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<li>The SIP module (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sip.so</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sip.pyd</span></tt>). This is a Python
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extension module that is imported automatically by SIP generated bindings and
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provides them with some common utility functions. See also
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<a class="reference external" href="python_api.html#ref-python-api"><em>Python API for Applications</em></a>.</li>
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<li>The SIP build system (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sipconfig.py</span></tt>). This is a pure Python module
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that is created when SIP is configured and encapsulates all the necessary
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information about your system including relevant directory names, compiler
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and linker flags, and version numbers. It also includes several Python
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classes and functions which help you write configuration scripts for your own
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bindings. It is covered in detail in <a class="reference external" href="build_system.html#ref-build-system"><em>The Build System</em></a>.</li>
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<li>The SIP distutils extension (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sipdistutils.py</span></tt>). This is a distutils
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extension that can be used to build your extension modules using distutils
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and is an alternative to writing configuration scripts with the SIP build
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system. This can be as simple as adding your .sip files to the list of files
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needed to build the extension module. It is covered in detail in
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<a class="reference external" href="distutils.html#ref-distutils"><em>Building Your Extension with distutils</em></a>.</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="qt-support">
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<h2>TQt Support<a class="headerlink" href="#qt-support" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>SIP has specific support for the creation of bindings based on Nokia’s TQt
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toolkit.</p>
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<p>The SIP code generator understands the signal/slot type safe callback mechanism
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that TQt uses to connect objects together. This allows applications to define
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new Python signals, and allows any Python callable object to be used as a slot.</p>
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<p>SIP itself does not require TQt to be installed.</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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<h3><a href="index.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a class="reference external" href="#">Introduction</a><ul>
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<li><a class="reference external" href="#license">License</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference external" href="#features">Features</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference external" href="#sip-components">SIP Components</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference external" href="#qt-support">TQt Support</a></li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h4>Previous topic</h4>
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<p class="topless"><a href="index.html"
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title="previous chapter">SIP Reference Guide</a></p>
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<h4>Next topic</h4>
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title="next chapter">Potential Incompatibilities with Earlier Versions</a></p>
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