Embed python interpreter to cc_binary

[Phuong Nguyen]

Hi all,
Currently I have a cpp project, which needs to call API which are python scripts. I found out pybind11 which is quite user-friendly. But the issue is that I cannot integrate the python interpreter to my cc_binary which lead to the program cannot start.
Do you guys have any experience with it? The context is like I want to call python script from cpp file, so what I need to update in my BUILD file to let it know.

Thanks in advance!

[Jason Schein]

I don't write much C++, but I've done this in binaries in other languages. You can pass the python interpreter into a binary as a data dep and then provide the path to that binary using make variables like so:

cc_binary(

env = {

"PYTHON_PATH": "$(rootpath @python3_9_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu//:python)",

},

data = "@python3_9_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu//:python"

)

I have an example saved on my PC for doing this in rust that I'll share, its pretty simple and you should be able to do the same thing in your C++ program

BUILD file:

load("@rules_rust//rust:defs.bzl", "rust_binary")

rust_binary(

name = "main",

srcs = ["main.rs"],

deps = [],

rustc_env = {

"PYTHON_PATH": "$(rootpath @python3_9_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu//:python)",

},

data = [

"@python3_9_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu//:python",

],

)

Rust File:

use std::env;

use std::error::Error;

use std::process::Command;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {

let python = env!("PYTHON_PATH");

println!("env python is {:?}", &python);

// Calls python interpretter

let res = Command::new(env::current_dir()?.join(&python))

.arg("-c")

// Python command being run

.arg("print('hello from python')")

.output()

.expect("failed to execute process");

println!("{:?}", std::str::from_utf8(&res.stdout)?);

Ok(())

}