Project:Python/Virtuals

This page describes the virtual packages introduced by the Python team.

Virtual packages for backports

Those virtual packages are used to reference the Python modules which are available in newer versions of Python and that were backported to older versions of Python using external packages.

Transparent vs. non-transparent

There are two classes of backport packages: transparent and non-transparent. Transparent backports install missing modules using the same names, therefore making code written for newer versions of Python work without modification. Non-transparent backports use different module names, therefore the code using them has to explicitly support them.

For transparent backports, the packages can safely depend on the virtuals to support old Python implementations. However, if they no longer support an old implementation (even with the backports installed), the dependency should be removed altogether.

For non-transparent backports, the support for backport in the package has to be evaluated. If a package depends on a backport module unconditionally (i.e. can't work without it even on newer Python versions), it needs to depend on the backport directly. The virtual is a suitable dependency only if the backport (or the original package) is used as a fallback, and therefore the package can work without the backport on newer Python versions.

How to use the table?

1. If transparent? is not yes, and your package always imports the module listed there, explicitly depend on the package providing that module.
2. If transparent? is yes or your package has fallback from package to module listed in transparent?:
   1. If all Python implementations supported by your package are marked as no in relevant implementations, do not add any dependency at all (built-in module will always be used).
   2. Otherwise, depend on the virtual.

Table

Virtual	Package	Relevant implementations						Transparent?	Notes
		2.7	3.4	3.5	3.6	pypy	pypy3
virtual/python-backports_abc	collections.abc	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	backports_abc package	built-in since 3.3
virtual/python-cffi	cffi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	built-in in PyPy
virtual/python-enum34	enum	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	built-in since 3.4
virtual/python-funcsigs - 0	inspect.Signature	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	funcsigs module	built-in since 3.3
virtual/python-funcsigs - 1	inspect.Signature	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	funcsigs module	built-in since 3.6 (revised version)
virtual/python-futures	concurrent.futures	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	built-in since 3.2
virtual/python-greenlet	greenlet	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	built-in in PyPy
virtual/python-ipaddress	ipaddress	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	built-in since 3.3
virtual/python-pathlib	pathlib	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	built-in since 3.4
virtual/python-singledispatch	functools.singledispatch	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	singledispatch module	built-in since 3.4
virtual/python-typing	typing	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	built-in since 3.5
virtual/python-unittest-mock	unittest.mock	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	mock module	built-in since 3.4