Pybind11 bindings for the Abseil C++ Common Libraries

[TOC]

Overview

These adapters make Abseil types work with Pybind11 bindings. For more information on using Pybind11, see g3doc/third_party/pybind11/google3_utils/README.md.

To use the converters listed below, just include the header in the .cc file with your bindings:

#include "pybind11_abseil/absl_casters.h"

Installation

pybind11_abseil can be built with Bazel or CMake. Instructions for both are below.

Bazel

In your BUILD file:

load("@pybind11_bazel//:build_defs.bzl", "pybind_extension")

Bzlmod

You can depend on the Bazel module and dependencies via one of the following commands in your MODULE.bazel:

To depend on a release:

bazel_dep(
    name = "pybind11_abseil",
    version = "<selected_version>",
)

To depend on floating master:

http_archive = use_repo_rule("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")

http_archive(
  name = "pybind11_bazel",
  strip_prefix = "pybind11_bazel-master",
  urls = ["https://github.com/pybind/pybind11_bazel/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz"],
)

http_archive(
  name = "pybind11",
  build_file = "@pybind11_bazel//:pybind11-BUILD.bazel",
  strip_prefix = "pybind11-master",
  urls = ["https://github.com/pybind/pybind11/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz"],
)

http_archive(
  name = "pybind11_abseil",
  strip_prefix = "pybind11_abseil-master",
  urls = ["https://github.com/pybind/pybind11_abseil/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz"],
)

WORKSPACE

Bazel workspace support is deprecated and will be removed at a later date.

You will need to depend on pybind11, pybind11_bazel(see doc, and on pybind11_abseil, e.g.

http_archive(
  name = "pybind11_bazel",
  strip_prefix = "pybind11_bazel-master",
  urls = ["https://github.com/pybind/pybind11_bazel/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz"],
)

http_archive(
  name = "pybind11",
  build_file = "@pybind11_bazel//:pybind11-BUILD.bazel",
  strip_prefix = "pybind11-master",
  urls = ["https://github.com/pybind/pybind11/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz"],
)

http_archive(
  name = "pybind11_abseil",
  strip_prefix = "pybind11_abseil-master",
  urls = ["https://github.com/pybind/pybind11_abseil/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz"],
)

CMake

In your project, add a FetchContent for pybind11_abseil. This will also fetch the appropriate versions of Abseil and pybind11 which your project can use (eliminating the need for submoduling Abseil or using find_package).

Add the following to your CMakeLists.txt:

include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare {
  pybind11_abseil
  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/pybind/pybind11_abseil.git
  GIT_TAG master
}
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(pybind11 abseil-cpp pybind11_abseil)

To install the package so that it is accessible from system Python, run cmake with the flag -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PYDIR set to a directory on your PYTHONPATH and subsequently run make install. This also works on projects that include pybind11_abseil via FetchContent.

absl::Duration

absl::Duration objects are converted to/ from python datetime.timedelta objects. Therefore, C code cannot mutate any datetime.timedelta objects from python.

absl::Time

absl::Time objects are converted to/from python datetime.datetime objects. Additionally, datetime.date objects can be converted to absl::Time objects. C code cannot mutate any datetime.datetime objects from python.

Python date objects effectively truncate the time to 0 (i.e., midnight). Python time objects are not supported because absl::Time would implicitly assume a year, which could be confusing.

Time zones

Python datetime objects include timezone information, while absl::Time does not. When converting from Python to C++, if a timezone is specified then it will be used to determine the absl::Time instant. If no timezone is specified by the Python datetime object, the local timezone is assumed.

When converting back from C++ to Python, the resultant time will be presented in the local timezone and the tzinfo property set on the datetime object to reflect that. This means that the caller may receive a datetime formatted in a different timezone to the one they passed in. To handle this safely, the caller should take care to check the tzinfo of any returned datetimes.

absl::CivilTime

absl::CivilTime objects are converted to/from Python datetime.datetime objects. Fractional Python datetime components are truncated when converting to less granular C++ types, and time zone information is ignored.

absl::Span

Loading

Some python types can be loaded (Python->C++) without copying or converting the list, while some require copying/ converting the list. The non-converting load methods will be tried first, and, if the span elements are const, the converting load methods will be tried next.

Arguments cast to a span with non-const elements can never be copied/converted. To prevent an argument cast to a span with const elements from being copied or converted, mark it as noconvert() (see go/pybind11-non-converting-arguments).

The following python types can be loaded without copying or converting:

Numpy array (or anything else that supports buffer protocol) => Span<{const or non-const} T> if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
- The buffer is 1-D.
- T is a numeric type.
- The array dtype matches T exactly.
- If T is not const, the buffer allows writing.
- The stride does not indicate to skip elements or go in reverse order.
Opaque std::vector<T> => Span<{const or non-const} T>.
- T can be any type, including converted or pointer types, but must match exactly between C++ and python.
- Opaque vectors are not currently compatible with the smart holder.

The following python types must be copied/converted to be loaded:

Python sequence of elements that require conversion (numbers, strings, datetimes, etc) => Span<const T>.
- The elements will be copied/ converted, so that conversion must be legal.
- T cannot be a pointer.
Python sequence of elements that do not require conversion (ie, classes wrapped with py::class_) => Span<const T> (elements will be copied) or Span<{const or non-const} T* const> (elements will not be copied).

Specifically, this conversion will fail if any of the following are true:

noconvert() was specified (see go/pybind11-non-converting-arguments).
The element conversion is not allowed (eg, floating point to integer).
The sequence is being loaded into a Span<{non-const} T> or Span<{const or non-const} T* {non-const}>.
The elements require conversion and the sequence is being loaded into a Span<T*> (regardless of any consts; the element caster which owns the converted value would be destroyed before load is complete, resulting in dangling references).
The span is nested (ie, absl::Span<absl::Span<T>>, regardless of any consts).

Note: These failure conditions only apply to converted python types.

Casting

Spans are cast (C++->Python) with the standard list caster, which always converts the list. This could be changed in the future (eg, using buffer protocol) but generally using spans as return values is not recommended.

absl::string_view

Supported exactly the same way pybind11 supports std::string_view.

absl::optional

Supported exactly the same way pybind11 supports std::optional.

absl::flat_hash_map and absl::btree_map

Supported exactly the same way pybind11 supports std::map.

absl::flat_hash_set

Supported exactly the same way pybind11 supports std::set.

absl::Status[Or]

To use the Status[Or] casters:

Include the header file pybind11_abseil/status_casters.h in the .cc file with your bindings.
Call pybind11::google::ImportStatusModule(); in your PYBIND11_MODULE definition.

(For use outside google3: The path used for the status module may be changed by altering the value of PYBIND11_ABSEIL_STATUS_MODULE_PATH defined in import_status_module.h.)

By default, an ok status will be converted into None, and a non-ok status will raise a status.StatusNotOk exception. This has a status attribute which can be used to access the status object and check the code/ message.

To get a status.Status object rather than having an exception thrown, pass either the Status object or a function returning a Status to pybind11::google::DoNotThrowStatus before casting or binding. This works with references and pointers to absl::Status objects too.

It isn't possible to specify separate return value policies for a StatusOr object and its payload. Since StatusOr is processed and not ever actually represented in Python, the return value policy applies to the payload. E.g., if you return a StatusOr<MyObject> (note the is inside the StatusOr) with a take_ownership return val policy and the status is OK (i.e., it has a payload), Python will take ownership of that payload and free it when it is garbage collected.

However, if you return a StatusOr<MyObject>* (note: the * is outside the StatusOr rather than inside it now) with a take_ownership return val policy, Python does not take ownership of the StatusOr and will not free it (because again, that policy applies to MyObject, not StatusOr).

See status_utils.cc in this directory for details about what methods are available in wrapped absl::Status objects.

Example:

#include "pybind11_abseil/status_casters.h"

absl::Status StatusReturningFunction() {
  return absl::Status(...);
}

pybind11::object StatusHandlingFunction() {
  return pybind11::cast(pybind11::google::DoNotThrowStatus(StatusReturningFunction()));
}

PYBIND11_MODULE(test_bindings, m) {
  pybind11::google::ImportStatusModule();

  m.def("return_status", &StatusReturningFunction,
        "Return None if StatusCode is OK, otherwise raise an error.");
  m.def("make_status", google::DoNotThrowStatus(&StatusReturningFunction),
        "Return a wrapped status object without raising an error.");
  m.def("status_handling_function", &StatusHandlingFunction,
        "Same effect as make_status, but cast is done internally.");
};

Python:

from pybind11_abseil import status
import test_bindings

my_status = make_status()
if my_status.code():
  ...

try:
  return_status()
except status.StatusNotOk as e:
  print(e.status)

absl::StatusOr

absl::StatusOr objects behave exactly like absl::Status objects, except:

There is no support for passing StatusOr objects. You can only return them.
Instead of returning None or a wrapped status with OK, this casts and returns the payload when there is no error.

As with absl::Status, the default behavior is to throw an error when casting a non-ok status. You may pass a StatusOr object or StatusOr returning function to pybind11::google::DoNotThrowStatus in exactly the same way as with absl::Status to change this behavior.

absl::StatusOr objects must be returned by value (not reference or pointer). Why? Because the implementation takes advantage of the fact that python is a dynamically typed language to cast and return the payload or the absl::Status object (or raise an exeception). Python has no concept of a absl::StatusOr object, so it's also impossible to apply the return_value_policy to a absl::StatusOr. Therefore returning a reference or pointer to a absl::StatusOr is meaningless.

Pointers can be used as the payload type, and the return_value_policy will be applied to the payload if the status is OK. However, references cannot be used as the payload type, because that's a restriction on absl::StatusOr in general, not pybind11 (see https://yaqs/5903163345338368).

This can handle any type of payload that pybind knows about. unique_ptrs (i.e., absl::StatusOr<std::unique_ptr<...>>) to wrapped classes or structs (i.e., any type which you created bindings for using pybind11::class_<...>) can be used, but unique_ptrs to converted types (e.g., int, string, absl::Time, absl::Duration, etc.) cannot be used.

absl::StatusCode

The status module provides pybind11::enum_ bindings for absl::StatusCode. These use python constant style, e.g. status.StatusCode.OK, status.StatusCode.CANCELLED, etc.

Warning: Pybind enums are their own type, and will never compare equally to integers due to being a different type, regardless of their value. In particular, note that the status proto code field is an integer, so it will never directly compare as equal to a StatusCode. To fix this, convert an integer to a StatusCode or vice-versa.

status_code = 0  # An integer.

if status_code == status.StatusCode.OK:  # Wrong: always evaluates to false.
  ...

if status.StatusCode(status_code) == status.StatusCode.OK:  # Correct.
  ...

if status_code == int(status.StatusCode.OK):  # Also correct.
  ...

pybind / pybind11_abseil

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