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authorVictor Stinner <vstinner@python.org>2023-06-06 08:40:32 (GMT)
committerGitHub <noreply@github.com>2023-06-06 08:40:32 (GMT)
commitbae415ad02c79cf3a2eec4aa6969221a12e6716f (patch)
treecd81929f1c58898b7a052d1480a60520a23942b9 /Doc/c-api/stable.rst
parent00d73caf804c0474980e471347d6385757af975f (diff)
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gh-102304: doc: Add links to Stable ABI and Limited C API (#105345)
* Add "limited-c-api" and "stable-api" references. * Rename "stable-abi-list" reference to "limited-api-list". * Makefile: Document files regenerated by "make regen-limited-abi" * Remove first empty line in generated files: - Lib/test/test_stable_abi_ctypes.py - PC/python3dll.c
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/c-api/stable.rst')
-rw-r--r--Doc/c-api/stable.rst55
1 files changed, 34 insertions, 21 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/c-api/stable.rst b/Doc/c-api/stable.rst
index 3721fc0..df01e73 100644
--- a/Doc/c-api/stable.rst
+++ b/Doc/c-api/stable.rst
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ but will need to be compiled separately for 3.9.x and 3.10.x.
There are two tiers of C API with different stability exepectations:
-- *Unstable API*, may change in minor versions without a deprecation period.
- It is marked by the ``PyUnstable`` prefix in names.
-- *Limited API*, is compatible across several minor releases.
+- :ref:`Unstable API <unstable-c-api>`, may change in minor versions without
+ a deprecation period. It is marked by the ``PyUnstable`` prefix in names.
+- :ref:`Limited API <limited-c-api>`, is compatible across several minor releases.
When :c:macro:`Py_LIMITED_API` is defined, only this subset is exposed
from ``Python.h``.
@@ -55,19 +55,15 @@ CPython development and spend extra effort adjusting to changes.
Stable Application Binary Interface
===================================
+.. _limited-c-api:
+
+Limited C API
+-------------
+
Python 3.2 introduced the *Limited API*, a subset of Python's C API.
Extensions that only use the Limited API can be
compiled once and work with multiple versions of Python.
-Contents of the Limited API are :ref:`listed below <stable-abi-list>`.
-
-To enable this, Python provides a *Stable ABI*: a set of symbols that will
-remain compatible across Python 3.x versions. The Stable ABI contains symbols
-exposed in the Limited API, but also other ones – for example, functions
-necessary to support older versions of the Limited API.
-
-(For simplicity, this document talks about *extensions*, but the Limited API
-and Stable ABI work the same way for all uses of the API – for example,
-embedding Python.)
+Contents of the Limited API are :ref:`listed below <limited-api-list>`.
.. c:macro:: Py_LIMITED_API
@@ -87,6 +83,23 @@ embedding Python.)
You can also define ``Py_LIMITED_API`` to ``3``. This works the same as
``0x03020000`` (Python 3.2, the version that introduced Limited API).
+
+.. _stable-abi:
+
+Stable ABI
+----------
+
+To enable this, Python provides a *Stable ABI*: a set of symbols that will
+remain compatible across Python 3.x versions.
+
+The Stable ABI contains symbols exposed in the :ref:`Limited API
+<limited-c-api>`, but also other ones – for example, functions necessary to
+support older versions of the Limited API.
+
+(For simplicity, this document talks about *extensions*, but the Limited API
+and Stable ABI work the same way for all uses of the API – for example,
+embedding Python.)
+
On Windows, extensions that use the Stable ABI should be linked against
``python3.dll`` rather than a version-specific library such as
``python39.dll``.
@@ -131,9 +144,9 @@ Limited API Caveats
-------------------
Note that compiling with ``Py_LIMITED_API`` is *not* a complete guarantee that
-code conforms to the Limited API or the Stable ABI. ``Py_LIMITED_API`` only
-covers definitions, but an API also includes other issues, such as expected
-semantics.
+code conforms to the :ref:`Limited API <limited-c-api>` or the :ref:`Stable ABI
+<stable-abi>`. ``Py_LIMITED_API`` only covers definitions, but an API also
+includes other issues, such as expected semantics.
One issue that ``Py_LIMITED_API`` does not guard against is calling a function
with arguments that are invalid in a lower Python version.
@@ -166,9 +179,9 @@ Platform Considerations
=======================
ABI stability depends not only on Python, but also on the compiler used,
-lower-level libraries and compiler options. For the purposes of the Stable ABI,
-these details define a “platform”. They usually depend on the OS
-type and processor architecture
+lower-level libraries and compiler options. For the purposes of
+the :ref:`Stable ABI <stable-abi>`, these details define a “platform”. They
+usually depend on the OS type and processor architecture
It is the responsibility of each particular distributor of Python
to ensure that all Python versions on a particular platform are built
@@ -177,12 +190,12 @@ This is the case with Windows and macOS releases from ``python.org`` and many
third-party distributors.
-.. _stable-abi-list:
+.. _limited-api-list:
Contents of Limited API
=======================
-Currently, the Limited API includes the following items:
+Currently, the :ref:`Limited API <limited-c-api>` includes the following items:
.. limited-api-list::