ctypes 0.9.0 released
=====================

Overview

    ctypes is a ffi (Foreign Function Interface) package for Python.

    It allows to call functions exposed from dlls/shared libraries and
    has extensive facilities to create, access and manipulate simpole
    and complicated C data types transparently from Python - in other
    words: wrap libraries in pure Python.

    ctypes runs on Windows, MacOS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD.  It may
    also run on other systems, provided that libffi supports this
    platform.


Changes in 0.9.0

    ctypes now requires Python 2.3 or higher, Python 2.2 is no longer
    supported.

    The big change is that ctypes now uses the same code base on all
    platforms, many, many bug should have been fixed this way on
    non-windows systems.  The destribution now contains libffi, no
    need to find, download, build and install a compatible version.

    There have been lots of improvements and additions both to ctypes
    itself, and to the ctypes.com windows framework, too many to
    remember now and document here.

    Most prominent additions to ctypes.com are:

	A ctypes.com.client module supporting dynamic dispatch

	An internet explorer toolband sample

	Many improvements to the stoplite sample

    Detailed changelogs are in CVS (well, sometimes I forget to update
    them):
    
  <http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/ctypes/ctypes/ChangeLog?rev=HEAD>

  <http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/ctypes/ctypes/win32/com/ChangeLog?rev=HEAD>


Future plans

    The ultimate purpose of the 0.9 release series is to shake out the
    remaining bugs, especially on platforms I have no access to, and
    to target a rock stable ctypes 1.0 release.

    When ctypes 1.0 is released, the com framework will be split off
    into a separate framework named 'comtypes'.


Download

    Downloads are available in the sourceforge files section
    <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71702>

    Separate source distributions are available for windows and non-windows systems.
    Please use the .zip file for Windows (it contains the ctypes.com framework),
    and use the .tar.gz file for non-Windows systems (it contains the
    complete cross-platform libffi sources).

    Binary windows installers, which contain compiled extension
    modules, are also available, be sure to download the correct one
    for the
    Python version you are using.


Homepage

    <http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/>

Enjoy,

Thomas