[Resolved] Distributing a Python module that uses C shared libs?

Question

I did some research on distutils, and I managed to find fairly detailed instructions for how one could distribute a Python module with C extensions. However, I have a Python module which uses ctypes to run code from C shared libraries (more specifically: SDL, and related libraries).
Basically, this is what I have:
pslab.py # requires ctypes wrapper modules below
sdl.py # ctypes wrapper modules require respective shared libs below
sdlmixer.py
sdlimage.py
sdlttf.py
# This is for Linux -- .dll for Windows, .dylib for OSX.
libSDL.so
libSDL_mixer.so
libSDL_image.so
libSDL_ttf.so
Is there a "standard" way to distribute modules of this type (maybe some undocumented distutils method, or something I failed to find)?
The Python files are not the problem (distutils can handle them), but I need a way to install the appropriate shared libs for the platform in question (if necessary), so that ctypes wrapper modules can find and load them.
Last edited by Goran (2012-08-14 08:51:19)

Answer 1

You could distribute those files ... but I wouldn't recommend it.
I believe the closest thing to a "standard" is simply to list sdl as a dependency.  A package distributor should not try to manage dependencies for users (only inform them of the dependencies).  That is either up to the user, or (more often) the distro's package management system.
If I download a program that uses gtk, I don't expect it to include all of the gtk too.  Rather, the documentation would simply specify that gtk is a dependency.  Are you going to also distribute copies of the python interpreter?  Perhaps I'm missing something, but why would sdl be any different than python itself?  It's assumed (or speficied) that the user needs to have these installed for your package to work.
Last edited by Trilby (2012-08-13 23:44:44)