The blenlib and blenkernel Modules

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss Blender’s two largest “core” utility libraries. blenlib and blenkernel are the primary modules for generic processing and data. As such, they share a history in the Blender codebase. When appropriate, we will use Blender’s unit tests—written with Google Test—to survey blenlib’s interface (BLI_* functions). Recall struct bContext is defined in blenkernel. We looked at the CTX_* API, a subset of the blenkernel API in Chapter 2. blenkernel’s API is generally accessed by BKE_* functions, which comprise a larger portion of its interface. blenkernel offloads data handling for makesdna, by operating on “DNA” data types. Other utility modules, namely, blenloader, blenfont, and blentranslation, are more specialized and beyond the scope of the current chapter.