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PYTHON-CONFIG(1) General Commands Manual PYTHON-CONFIG(1)

NAME

python-config - output build options for python C/C++ extensions or embedding

SYNOPSIS

python-config [ --prefix ] [ --exec-prefix ] [ --includes ] [ --libs ] [ --cflags ] [ --ldflags ] [ --extension-suffix ] [ --configdir ] [ --help ]

DESCRIPTION

python-config helps compiling and linking programs, which embed the Python interpreter, or extension modules that can be loaded dynamically (at run time) into the interpreter.

OPTIONS

print the C compiler flags.
print the flags that should be passed to the linker.
similar to --cflags but only with -I options (path to python header files).
similar to --ldflags but only with -l options (used libraries).
prints the prefix (base directory) under which python can be found.
print the prefix used for executable program directories (such as bin, sbin, etc).
print suffix used for extension modules (including the _d modified for debug builds).
prints the path to the configuration directory under which the Makefile, etc. can be found).
print the usage message.

EXAMPLES

To build the singe-file c program prog against the python library, use

gcc $(python-config --cflags --ldflags) progr.cpp -o progr.cpp

The same in a makefile:

CFLAGS+=$(shell python-config --cflags)
LDFLAGS+=$(shell python-config --ldflags)
all: progr

To build a dynamically loadable python module, use

gcc $(python-config --cflags --ldflags) -shared -fPIC progr.cpp -o progr.so

SEE ALSO

python (1)
http://docs.python.org/extending/extending.html
/usr/share/doc/python/faq/extending.html

AUTHORS

This manual page was written by Johann Felix Soden <johfel@gmx.de> for the Debian project (and may be used by others).

November 27, 2011