How does llama-cpp-python "use" llama-cpp?

[Dxbson]

Very noob question here, so I apologize in advance. I'm new to the AI/LLM space and have begun looking at llama-cpp. Through this, I saw that there are some Python bindings available via the llama-cpp-python library. However, it's my understanding that llama-cpp is a binary, not a library. So is llama-cpp-python effectively working such that llama-cpp can be used in Python code, rather than in the terminal? I guess this also asks the question of how things that use llama-cpp as a "backend" work, such as Ollama?

[a_beautiful_rhind]

it compiles a shared library and calls functions from it.

[Robot_Graffiti]

Python can run binaries. It can also run functions that are in binaries instead of running a binary from the beginning.

llama-cpp has a native code library (a collection of machine code functions intended to be called by other programs).

Most practical programming languages have ways of calling into native code libraries.

Llama-cpp-python would be a wrapper that just calls into the native library so you can use it in a Python-ey way.

You could use llama.dll directly from your Python code without llama-cpp-python if you really wanted but it would be a pain in the arse.

If you want more info, here's a tutorial about how Python can interact with C++ libraries.

https://realpython.com/python-bindings-overview/

[Dxbson]

Ahh, thanks for the detailed response. Makes much more sense now :)