pocketpy/docs/quick-start/installation.md

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icon: dot label: 'Installation'

order: 100

You have two options to integrate pkpy into your project.

Use the single header file

Download the pocketpy.h on our GitHub Release page. And #include it in your project. The header can only be included once.

Use CMake

Clone the whole repository as a submodule into your project, In your CMakelists.txt, add the following lines:

add_subdirectory(pocketpy)
target_link_libraries(<your_target> pocketpy)

See CMakeLists.txt for details.

It is safe to use main branch in production if CI badge is green.

Compile flags

To compile it with your project, these flags must be set:

• --std=c11 flag must be set
• For MSVC, /utf-8 flag must be set

Get prebuilt binaries

We have prebuilt binaries, check them out on our GitHub Actions.

You can download an artifact there which contains the following files.

├── android
│   ├── arm64-v8a
│   │   └── libpocketpy.so
│   ├── armeabi-v7a
│   │   └── libpocketpy.so
│   └── x86_64
│       └── libpocketpy.so
├── ios
│   └── libpocketpy.a
├── linux
│   └── x86_64
│       ├── libpocketpy.so
│       └── main
├── macos
│   └── pocketpy.bundle
│       └── Contents
│           ├── Info.plist
│           └── MacOS
│               └── pocketpy
└── windows
    └── x86_64
        ├── main.exe
        └── pocketpy.dll

Example

#include "pocketpy.h"
#include <stdio.h>

static bool int_add(int argc, py_Ref argv) {
    PY_CHECK_ARGC(2);
    PY_CHECK_ARG_TYPE(0, tp_int);
    PY_CHECK_ARG_TYPE(1, tp_int);
    py_i64 a = py_toint(py_arg(0));
    py_i64 b = py_toint(py_arg(1));
    py_newint(py_retval(), a + b);
    return true;
}

int main() {
    // Initialize pocketpy
    py_initialize();

    // Hello world!
    bool ok = py_exec("print('Hello world!')", "<string>", EXEC_MODE, NULL);
    if(!ok) goto __ERROR;

    // Create a list: [1, 2, 3]
    py_Ref r0 = py_getreg(0);
    py_newlistn(r0, 3);
    py_newint(py_list_getitem(r0, 0), 1);
    py_newint(py_list_getitem(r0, 1), 2);
    py_newint(py_list_getitem(r0, 2), 3);

    // Eval the sum of the list
    py_Ref f_sum = py_getbuiltin(py_name("sum"));
    py_push(f_sum);
    py_pushnil();
    py_push(r0);
    ok = py_vectorcall(1, 0);
    if(!ok) goto __ERROR;

    printf("Sum of the list: %d\n", (int)py_toint(py_retval()));  // 6

    // Bind native `int_add` as a global variable
    py_newnativefunc(r0, int_add);
    py_setglobal(py_name("add"), r0);

    // Call `add` in python
    ok = py_exec("add(3, 7)", "<string>", EVAL_MODE, NULL);
    if(!ok) goto __ERROR;

    py_i64 res = py_toint(py_retval());
    printf("Sum of 2 variables: %d\n", (int)res);  // 10

    py_finalize();
    return 0;

__ERROR:
    py_printexc();
    py_finalize();
    return 1;
}

Overview

pkpy's C++ interfaces are organized in an object-oriented way. All classes are located in pkpy namespace.

The most important class is the VM class. A VM instance is a python virtual machine which holds all necessary runtime states, including callstack, modules, variables, etc.

A process can have multiple VM instances. Each VM instance is independent from each other.

!!! Always use C++ new operator to create a VM instance. DO NOT declare it on the stack. It may cause stack overflow. !!!

VM* vm = new VM();

The constructor can take 1 extra parameters.

VM(bool enable_os=true)

• enable_os, whether to enable OS-related features or not. This setting controls the availability of privileged modules such os io and os as well as builtin function open. It is designed for sandboxing.

When you are done with the VM instance, use delete operator to dispose it.

delete vm;

Hook standard buffer

By default, pkpy outputs all messages and errors to stdout and stderr. You can redirect them to your own buffer by setting vm->_stdout and vm->_stderr.

These two fields are C function pointers with the following signature:

void(*)(const char*, int);

Or you can override these two virtual functions:

    virtual void stdout_write(const Str& s){
        _stdout(s.data, s.size);
    }

    virtual void stderr_write(const Str& s){
        _stderr(s.data, s.size);
    }