Python bindings for SystemC

[elvisjohndowson]

Hi,

     Has anyone succeeded in generating python bindings for SystemC, using PyBindGen?

 

I've managed to run through the process, but can't seem to figure out why I can't find any classes or functions inside the scanned submodules (e.g. sc_core).

 

I've outlined the procedure that I've followed so far, below. It would be great if someone could help me finish it, but figuring out what's missing.

 

Overview

 

This document describes how to generate Python-2.7 bindings for SystemC-2.3 using PyBindGen.

 

PyBindGen is a Python bindings generator; it is geared to generating C/C++ code that binds a C/C++ library for Python.

 

PyBindGen is a Python module that is geared to generating C/C++ code that binds a C/C++ library for Python. It does so without extensive use of either C++ templates or C pre-processor macros. It has modular handling of C/C++ types, and can be extended with Python plugins. The generated code is almost as clean as what a human programmer would write.

 

It was designed to be an alternative to some other bindings generators out there, including:

    - Boost::Python, which uses C++ templates extensively, which are difficult to understand or extend, and which generates relatively large Python modules;

    - SWIG, which makes extensive use of macros, generates very ugly code, and is itself written in C++, therefore difficult to extend;

    - Python SIP, which is also written in C++;

    - The PyGtk code generator, which doesn't support wrapping C++ code, and is not very flexible;

 

 

Procedure

 

 

Step 01.00: Install pre-requisite packages.

 

Step 01.01: Install SystemC-2.3.0.

 

 

Download the systemc library.

 

http://www.accellera.org/downloads/standards/systemc

 

Extract systemc-2.3.0.tar.gz to /tool/accelera folder

 

Configure and build the systemc library.

 

cd /tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0

mkdir build; cd build

../configure

 

 

In the build directory, modify the systemc-2.3.0/build/src/sysc/kernel/Makefile and remove 

 

am_objects_2 = 

sc_main.lo, sc_main_main.lo

 

CXX_FILES = \ 

sc_main.cpp \

sc_main_main.cpp \

 

to avoid issues with unresolved external symbol sc_main, while importing the python module that you will generate, in subsequent steps.

 

 

make -j8

make install

 

The libraries will be installed to the following location by default:

 

/tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0/include

/tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0/lib-linux64

 

Set the SYSTEMC environment variable to point to the SystemC installation.

 

export SYSTEMC=/tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0

 

Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH

 

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${SYSTEMC}/lib-linux64:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"

 

 

Step 01.02: Install gccxml and pygccxml

 

sudo apt-get install gccxml python-pygccxml

 

 

Step 02.00: Install pybindgen.

 

Step 02.01: Download pybindgen-0.16.0

 

Step 02.02: Configure and install pybindgen.

 

cd /tool/pybindgen-0.16.0

./waf configure

./waf

./waf check

sudo ./waf install

 

Step 02.03: Test pybindgen using the first-example program.

 

Download the first-example.zip file from

 

http://pybindgen.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/tutorial/

 

Modify the makefile to create a shared library using ld, instead of gcc

 

PYTHON_INCLUDE=/usr/include/python2.7

PYBINDGEN_LOCATION=../../

 

all: MyModule.so

 

# build my C library

libmymodule.so: my-module.o

ld -shared -o libmymodule.so my-module.o

my-module.o: my-module.h my-module.c

gcc -fPIC -c -o my-module.o my-module.c

 

# generate the binding code

my-module-binding.c: my-module.h my-module.py

PYTHONPATH=$$PYTHONPATH:$(PYBINDGEN_LOCATION) python my-module.py > my-module-binding.c

# build the binding code

my-module-binding.o: my-module-binding.c

gcc -fPIC -I$(PYTHON_INCLUDE) -c -o my-module-binding.o my-module-binding.c

# build the final python module

MyModule.so: libmymodule.so my-module-binding.o

ld -shared -o MyModule.so -L. -lmymodule my-module-binding.o

 

clean:

rm -f *.o *.so my-module-binding.c *~ 2>/dev/null

 

 

Step 03.00: Create a pybindgen script to automatically scan and generate the python systemc bindings.

 

Step 03.01: Create a pybindgen autoscan module.

 

Filename: pysystemc-autoscan.py

 

#! /usr/bin/env python

 

import sys

 

from pybindgen import FileCodeSink

from pybindgen.gccxmlparser import ModuleParser

 

def systemc_gen():

    module_parser = ModuleParser('pysystemc', '::')

    module_parser.parse([sys.argv[1]], includes=['"systemc.h"'], pygen_sink=FileCodeSink(sys.stdout))

 

if __name__ == '__main__':

    systemc_gen()

 

 

Create the generator

 

python pysystemc-autoscan.py systemc.h > pysystemc-codegen.py

 

Create the python binding file

 

python pysystemc-codegen.py systemc.h > pysystemc-binding.cc

 

Compile the python binding file:

 

c++ -fPIC -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0/src -c -o pysystemc-binding.o pysystemc-binding.cxx

 

Build the shared library:

 

c++ -shared -o pysystemc.so -L. -L/tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0/lib-linux64 pysystemc-binding.o -Wl,--whole-archive /tool/accelera/systemc-2.3.0/lib-linux64/libsystemc.a -Wl,--no-whole-archive

 

After this, test the installation by typing 

 

python

 

>>> import pysystemc

 

The sc_core submodule is present in the pysystemc module, but it doesn't have any classes or methods.

 

Best regards,

 

Elvis Dowson

[TomL]

Elvis,

 

Have you had any luck with generating the SystemC bindings since your last post?  I'm about go through the same exercise and want to avoid reinventing the wheel...

 

 

 

-TomL

[elvisjohndowson]

Hi Tom,

I got in touch with the author of pybindgen and he said that the code was too complex for pybindgen to handle. So no, I haven't done anything about it since.

 

Regards,

 

Elvis Dowson

[chiggs]

According to this paper it should be possible to wrap SystemC using SWIG:  http://glibersat.linux62.org/~glibersat/CSD13_final.pdf