If you want to support dynamic linkages between python projects or system
libraries, you will likely encounter some issues in making sure the compiled
libraries/python bindings work after the wheel is created and the python project
is installed on the system. The most common issue are the missing hints pointing
to where the runtime libraries are located, specifically RPATH
on Linux and
MacOS systems, and PATH
/os.add_dll_directory
on Windows systems. Here are
some recommendations on how to address them.
The easiest solution is to make sure you link to the static libraries counterparts during the CMake build. How to achieve this depends on the specific dependency, how it is imported in the CMake project and how the dependency is packaged in each ecosystem.
For example for Boost this is controlled via the variable
Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS
.
There are wheel repair tools for each operating system that bundle any dynamic libraries used and patch the libraries/python bindings to point to prioritize those libraries. The most common tools for these are auditwheel for Linux, delocate for MacOS and delvewheel for Windows. cibuildwheel incorporates these tools in its repair wheel feature.
These tools also rename the library with a unique hash to avoid any potential
name collision if the same library is being bundled by a different package, and
check if the packages confirm to standards like PEP600 (manylinux_X_Y
).
These tools do not allow to have cross wheel library dependency.
You can manually make a relative RPath. This has the benefit of working when not running scikit-build-core, as well.
The RPATH
patching can be done as
if(APPLE)
set(origin_token "@loader_path")
else()
set(origin_token "$ORIGIN")
endif()
set_property(TARGET <target> PROPERTY INSTALL_RPATH
"${origin_token}/install_path/to/dynamic_library"
)
For Windows patching, this has to be done at the python files using
os.add_dll_directory
at the top-most package __init__.py
file or top-level
python module files.
import os
from pathlib import Path
dependency_dll_path = Path(__file__).parent / "install_path/to/dynamic_library"
os.add_dll_directory(str(dependency_dll_path))