diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/PYBIND11.md | 58 |
1 files changed, 58 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/PYBIND11.md b/docs/PYBIND11.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..56ed0042f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/PYBIND11.md @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +# Generating/maintaining Python bindings using Pybind11 + +As of the GNU Radio 3.9 release, python bindings are handled using pybind11, +which is inherently different than they were in previous releases + +## Dependencies + +- pybind11 > 2.4.3 https://pybind11.readthedocs.io/ +- pygccxml https://pygccxml.readthedocs.io/en/develop/install.html + - This is an optional dependency and basic functionality for OOT generation can be performed without pygccxml + +## Workflow + +### Out-of-Tree modules + +The steps for creating an out of tree module with pybind11 bindings are as follows: + +1. Use `gr_modtool` to create an out of tree module and add blocks + +``` +gr_modtool newmod foo +gr_modtool add bar +``` + +2. Update the parameters or functions in the public include file and rebind with `gr_modtool bind bar` + +**NOTE**: without pygccxml, only the make function is currently accounted for, similar to `gr_modtool makeyaml` + +3. Build and install + +If the public API changes, just call `gr_modtool bind [blockname]` to regenerate the bindings + + +### In-Tree Modules + +Generating bindings for in-tree modules is currently a bit more manual, as they are not expected to change that frequently. Pygccxml **IS** required for generating these bindings. + +Currently the best way to approach this is via the script `gr-utils/bindtool/scripts/bind_gr_module.py` + +``` +python3 /path/to/gr-utils/bindtool/scripts/bind_gr_module.py --prefix=[GR PREFIX (e.g. ~/gr)] --output_dir /tmp/bindtool modulename +``` + +where `modulename` is: + +``` +gr, pmt, blocks, digital, analog, fft, filter, ... +``` + + +## Docstrings + +If Doxygen is enabled in GNU Radio and/or the OOT, Docstrings are scraped from the header files, and placed in auto-generated +`[blockname]_pydoc.h` files in the build directory on compile. Generated templates (via the binding steps described above) are placed in +the `python/bindings/docstrings` directory and are used as placeholders for the scraped strings + +Upon compilation, docstrings are scraped from the module and stored in a dictionary (using `update_pydoc.py scrape`) and then +the values are substituted in the template file (using `update_pydoc.py sub`)
\ No newline at end of file |