Welcome to scikit-build

scikit-build is a Python build system for CPython C/C++/Fortran/Cython extensions using CMake.

The scikit-build package is fundamentally just glue between the setuptools Python module and CMake.

The next generation of scikit-build, scikit-build-core, is currently under development. This provides a simple, reliable build backend for CMake that does not use setuptools and provides a lot of new features. Scikit-build-core can also power a setuptools-based extension system, which will eventually become the backend for scikit-build (classic). If you do not require extensive customization of the build process, you should consider trying scikit-build-core instead of scikit-build.

To get started, see this example. For more examples, see scikit-build-sample-projects.

For maintainers

Indices and tables

Publications

Please use the first citation when referencing scikit-build in scientific publications.

  • Jean-Christophe Fillion-Robin, Matt McCormick, Omar Padron, Max Smolens, Michael Grauer, & Michael Sarahan. (2018, July 13). jcfr/scipy_2018_scikit-build_talk: SciPy 2018 Talk | scikit-build: A Build System Generator for CPython C/C++/Fortran/Cython Extensions. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2565368

  • Schreiner, Henry, Rickerby, Joe, Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf, Jakob, Wenzel, Darbois, Matthieu, Gokaslan, Aaron, Fillion-Robin, Jean-Christophe, & McCormick, Matt. (2022, August 1). Building Binary Extensions with pybind11, scikit-build, and cibuildwheel. https://doi.org/10.25080/majora-212e5952-033

History

PyCMake was created at SciPy 2014 in response to general difficulties building C++ and Fortran based Python extensions across platforms. It was renamed to “scikit-build” in 2016. Scikit-build-core was started in 2022.

Known Issues

These issues are likely to be addressed in upcoming releases, and are already addressed in scikit-build-core.

  • Editable installs do not work with the latest versions of Setuptools (and had issues with older versions, too).

  • Configuration scikit-build cares about _must_ be specified in setup() currently.

  • The cache directory (_skbuild) may need to be deleted between builds in some cases (like rebuilding with a different Python interpreter).

  • AIX requires a newer version of CMake than the IBM-supplied CMake 3.22.0 from the AIX Toolbox for Open Source Software. We currently recommend building CMake from source on AIX.

We are also working on improving scikit-build, so there are some upcoming changes and deprecations:

  • All deprecated setuptools/distutils features are also deprecated in scikit-build, like the test command, easy_install, etc.

  • Older versions of CMake (<3.15) are not recommended; a future version will remove support for older CMake’s (along with providing a better mechanism for ensuring a proper CMake is available).

If you need any of these features, please open or find an issue explaining what and why you need something.

Miscellaneous

Support for this work was provided by NSF grant OAC-2209877.