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Pact Python FFI

Note

This package provides direct access to the Pact Foreign Function Interface (FFI) with minimal abstraction. It is intended for advanced users who need low-level control over Pact operations in Python.

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This sub-package is part of the Pact Python project and exists to expose the Pact FFI directly to Python. If you are looking for the main Pact Python library for contract testing, please see the root package.

Overview

  • The module provides a thin Python wrapper around the Pact FFI (C API).
  • Most classes correspond directly to structs from the FFI, and are designed to wrap the underlying C pointers.
  • Many classes implement the __del__ method to ensure memory allocated by the Rust library is freed when the Python object is destroyed, preventing memory leaks.
  • Functions from the FFI are exposed directly: if a function foo exists in the FFI, it is accessible as pact_ffi.foo.
  • The API is not guaranteed to be stable and is intended for use by advanced users or for building higher-level libraries. For typical contract testing, use the main Pact Python client library.

Installation

You can install this package via pip:

pip install pact-python-ffi

Usage

This package exposes the raw FFI bindings for Pact. It is suitable for advanced use cases, custom integrations, or for building higher-level libraries. For typical contract testing, prefer using the main Pact Python library.

Contributing

As this is a relatively thin wrapper around the Pact FFI, the code is unlikely to change frequently; however, contributions to improve the coverage of the FFI bindings or to improve existing functionality are welcome. See the main contributing guide for details.

To release a new version of pact-python-ffi, simply push a tag in the format pact-python-ffi/x.y.z.w. This will automatically trigger a release process, pulling in version x.y.z of the underlying Pact FFI. Before creating and pushing such a tag, please ensure that the Python wrapper has been updated to reflect any changes or updates in the corresponding FFI version.

Higher-level abstractions or utilities should be implemented in separate libraries (such as pact-python).

For questions or support, please visit the Pact Foundation Slack or GitHub Discussions