Is there a way compile protocol buffers into pure python code?

Question

I am looking into using protocol buffers to communicate with some custom devices we have. The problem is that these devices run an embedded python interpreter and we cannot install extra libraries onto them. Is there a way to compile .proto files into python without requirement for the protobuf library?

Answer 1

Give a try to protlib instead, its only 51.4 KB and you can delete some code there that handles types that you don't need.

Answer 2

Another possibility is to use Better Protobuf for Python which is currently supported unlike protolib. It supports most use cases and has been under active development since 2019. It also provides a very friendly API to interact with the generated Protobuf files.