.. _cffi:

++++
cffi
++++

An alternative to the C API is to rewrite a C extension using `cffi
<http://cffi.readthedocs.io/>`__.

XXX write a better rationale why migrating to cffi!

Questions:

* Is it easy to distribute binaries generated by cffi to avoid to require C
  headers and a C compiler? (Windows, macOS, Linux?)
* How many popular Python modules use the C API? See :ref:`Consumers of the
  Python C API <consumers>`.
* How long would it take to rewrite a C extension with ``cffi``?
* What is the long-term transition plan to reach the "no C API" goal? At least,
  CPython will continue to use its own C API internally.
* How to deal with :ref:`backward compatibility <back-compat>`?

Small practical issue: ``cffi`` is not part of the Python 3.7 standard library
yet.  Previous attempt to add it, in 2013: `[Python-Dev] cffi in stdlib
<https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2013-February/124337.html>`_.

See also :ref:`Cython <cython>` and :ref:`Remove the C API <remove-c-api>`.