.. _cmodules: MicroPython external C modules ============================== When developing modules for use with MicroPython you may find you run into limitations with the Python environment, often due to an inability to access certain hardware resources or Python speed limitations. If your limitations can't be resolved with suggestions in :ref:`speed_python`, writing some or all of your module in C (and/or C++ if implemented for your port) is a viable option. If your module is designed to access or work with commonly available hardware or libraries please consider implementing it inside the MicroPython source tree alongside similar modules and submitting it as a pull request. If however you're targeting obscure or proprietary systems it may make more sense to keep this external to the main MicroPython repository. This chapter describes how to compile such external modules into the MicroPython executable or firmware image. Both Make and CMake build tools are supported, and when writing an external module it's a good idea to add the build files for both of these tools so the module can be used on all ports. But when compiling a particular port you will only need to use one method of building, either Make or CMake. An alternative approach is to use :ref:`natmod` which allows writing custom C code that is placed in a .mpy file, which can be imported dynamically in to a running MicroPython system without the need to recompile the main firmware. Structure of an external C module --------------------------------- A MicroPython user C module is a directory with the following files: * ``*.c`` / ``*.cpp`` / ``*.h`` source code files for your module. These will typically include the low level functionality being implemented and the MicroPython binding functions to expose the functions and module(s). Currently the best reference for writing these functions/modules is to find similar modules within the MicroPython tree and use them as examples. * ``micropython.mk`` contains the Makefile fragment for this module. ``$(USERMOD_DIR)`` is available in ``micropython.mk`` as the path to your module directory. As it's redefined for each c module, is should be expanded in your ``micropython.mk`` to a local make variable, eg ``EXAMPLE_MOD_DIR := $(USERMOD_DIR)`` Your ``micropython.mk`` must add your modules source files relative to your expanded copy of ``$(USERMOD_DIR)`` to ``SRC_USERMOD``, eg ``SRC_USERMOD += $(EXAMPLE_MOD_DIR)/example.c`` If you have custom compiler options (like ``-I`` to add directories to search for header files), these should be added to ``CFLAGS_USERMOD`` for C code and to ``CXXFLAGS_USERMOD`` for C++ code. * ``micropython.cmake`` contains the CMake configuration for this module. In ``micropython.cmake``, you may use ``${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}`` as the path to the current module. Your ``micropython.cmake`` should define an ``INTERFACE`` library and associate your source files, compile definitions and include directories with it. The library should then be linked to the ``usermod`` target. .. code-block:: cmake add_library(usermod_cexample INTERFACE) target_sources(usermod_cexample INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/examplemodule.c ) target_include_directories(usermod_cexample INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR} ) target_link_libraries(usermod INTERFACE usermod_cexample) See below for full usage example. Basic example ------------- This simple module named ``cexample`` provides a single function ``cexample.add_ints(a, b)`` which adds the two integer args together and returns the result. It can be found in the MicroPython source tree `in the examples directory `_ and has a source file and a Makefile fragment with content as described above:: micropython/ └──examples/ └──usercmodule/ └──cexample/ ├── examplemodule.c ├── micropython.mk └── micropython.cmake Refer to the comments in these files for additional explanation. Next to the ``cexample`` module there's also ``cppexample`` which works in the same way but shows one way of mixing C and C++ code in MicroPython. Compiling the cmodule into MicroPython -------------------------------------- To build such a module, compile MicroPython (see `getting started `_), applying 2 modifications: 1. Set the build-time flag ``USER_C_MODULES`` to point to the modules you want to include. For ports that use Make this variable should be a directory which is searched automatically for modules. For ports that use CMake this variable should be a file which includes the modules to build. See below for details. 2. Enable the modules by setting the corresponding C preprocessor macro to 1. This is only needed if the modules you are building are not automatically enabled. For building the example modules which come with MicroPython, set ``USER_C_MODULES`` to the ``examples/usercmodule`` directory for Make, or to ``examples/usercmodule/micropython.cmake`` for CMake. For example, here's how the to build the unix port with the example modules: .. code-block:: bash cd micropython/ports/unix make USER_C_MODULES=../../examples/usercmodule You may need to run ``make clean`` once at the start when including new user modules in the build. The build output will show the modules found:: ... Including User C Module from ../../examples/usercmodule/cexample Including User C Module from ../../examples/usercmodule/cppexample ... For a CMake-based port such as rp2, this will look a little different (note that CMake is actually invoked by ``make``): .. code-block:: bash cd micropython/ports/rp2 make USER_C_MODULES=../../examples/usercmodule/micropython.cmake Again, you may need to run ``make clean`` first for CMake to pick up the user modules. The CMake build output lists the modules by name:: ... Including User C Module(s) from ../../examples/usercmodule/micropython.cmake Found User C Module(s): usermod_cexample, usermod_cppexample ... The contents of the top-level ``micropython.cmake`` can be used to control which modules are enabled. For your own projects it's more convenient to keep custom code out of the main MicroPython source tree, so a typical project directory structure will look like this:: my_project/ ├── modules/ │ ├── example1/ │ │ ├── example1.c │ │ ├── micropython.mk │ │ └── micropython.cmake │ ├── example2/ │ │ ├── example2.c │ │ ├── micropython.mk │ │ └── micropython.cmake │ └── micropython.cmake └── micropython/ ├──ports/ ... ├──stm32/ ... When building with Make set ``USER_C_MODULES`` to the ``my_project/modules`` directory. For example, building the stm32 port: .. code-block:: bash cd my_project/micropython/ports/stm32 make USER_C_MODULES=../../../modules When building with CMake the top level ``micropython.cmake`` -- found directly in the ``my_project/modules`` directory -- should ``include`` all of the modules you want to have available: .. code-block:: cmake include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/example1/micropython.cmake) include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/example2/micropython.cmake) Then build with: .. code-block:: bash cd my_project/micropython/ports/esp32 make USER_C_MODULES=../../../../modules/micropython.cmake Note that the esp32 port needs the extra ``..`` for relative paths due to the location of its main ``CMakeLists.txt`` file. You can also specify absolute paths to ``USER_C_MODULES``. All modules specified by the ``USER_C_MODULES`` variable (either found in this directory when using Make, or added via ``include`` when using CMake) will be compiled, but only those which are enabled will be available for importing. User modules are usually enabled by default (this is decided by the developer of the module), in which case there is nothing more to do than set ``USER_C_MODULES`` as described above. If a module is not enabled by default then the corresponding C preprocessor macro must be enabled. This macro name can be found by searching for the ``MP_REGISTER_MODULE`` line in the module's source code (it usually appears at the end of the main source file). The third argument to ``MP_REGISTER_MODULE`` is the macro name, and this must be set to 1 using ``CFLAGS_EXTRA`` to make the module available. If the third argument is just the number 1 then the module is enabled by default. For example, the ``examples/usercmodule/cexample`` module is enabled by default so has the following line in its source code: .. code-block:: c MP_REGISTER_MODULE(MP_QSTR_cexample, example_user_cmodule, 1); Alternatively, to make this module disabled by default but selectable through a preprocessor configuration option, it would be: .. code-block:: c MP_REGISTER_MODULE(MP_QSTR_cexample, example_user_cmodule, MODULE_CEXAMPLE_ENABLED); In this case the module is enabled by adding ``CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DMODULE_CEXAMPLE_ENABLED=1`` to the ``make`` command, or editing ``mpconfigport.h`` or ``mpconfigboard.h`` to add .. code-block:: c #define MODULE_CEXAMPLE_ENABLED (1) Note that the exact method depends on the port as they have different structures. If not done correctly it will compile but importing will fail to find the module. Module usage in MicroPython --------------------------- Once built into your copy of MicroPython, the module can now be accessed in Python just like any other builtin module, e.g. .. code-block:: python import cexample print(cexample.add_ints(1, 3)) # should display 4