[Jython-dev] ctypes/jffi

[Jeff A. <ja...@fa...>]

You would think the module ctypes might be absent from a Java 
implementation of Python. In fact we have one, implemented on top of jffi.

Well, we sort-of have it. Unfortunately, it shows signs of being well 
out of date (Python 2.5 era) and we have not noticed because it is 
ignored by the regression tests.

This has been brought up by 
https://github.com/jythontools/jython/issues/147 and I've raised 
https://bugs.jython.org/issue2780 to hold it. I'm inclined to leave it 
to 2.7.3, though.

There's an argument that if a feature is undocumented (it mostly is), 
and there is no test, it should be dropped. However, it is clearly a lot 
of work and a stdlib feature, for which tests exist though they are 
ignored. Does anyone understand the history of (or love) this module? 
Has it *never* been tested? Is it necessary for JyNI?

And how does _rawffi fit in? That looks like a fossil we could delete.

Jeff

-- 
Jeff Allen