SEAL Python

Microsoft SEAL For Python

This is a python binding for the Microsoft SEAL library.

Microsoft SEAL is an easy-to-use open-source (MIT licensed) homomorphic encryption library developed by the Cryptography Research group at Microsoft.

pybind11 is a lightweight header-only library that exposes C++ types in Python and vice versa, mainly to create Python bindings of existing C++ code.

Contents

• Install
• Build
• Typing
• Note
  • Serialize
  • Other
• FAQ
• Release

Install

SEAL-Python is available on PyPI:

shellCopy
python -m pip install seal-python

Build

On macOS, use the same deployment target for both the SEAL static library and the Python extension to avoid linker warnings about mismatched macOS versions:

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export MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=$(python3 - <<'PY'
import sysconfig
print(sysconfig.get_config_var("MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET") or "15.0")
PY
)

• Linux

  Recommend: Clang++ (>= 10.0) or GNU G++ (>= 9.4), CMake (>= 3.16)

  shellCopy
  # Optional
  sudo apt-get install git build-essential cmake python3 python3-dev python3-pip
  
  # Get the repository or download from the releases
  git clone https://github.com/Huelse/SEAL-Python.git
  cd SEAL-Python
  
  # Install dependencies
  pip3 install numpy pybind11
  
  # Pull the SEAL
  git submodule update --init --recursive
  # Get the newest repositories (dev only)
  # git submodule update --remote
  
  # Build the SEAL lib without the msgsl zlib and zstandard compression
  cd SEAL
  cmake -S . -B build -DSEAL_USE_MSGSL=OFF -DSEAL_USE_ZLIB=OFF -DSEAL_USE_ZSTD=OFF
  # macOS:
  cmake -S . -B build -DSEAL_USE_MSGSL=OFF -DSEAL_USE_ZLIB=OFF -DSEAL_USE_ZSTD=OFF -DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=${MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}
  cmake --build build
  cd ..
  
  # Run the setup.py, the dynamic library will be generated in the current directory
  python3 setup.py build_ext -i
  
  # Test
  cp seal.*.so examples
  cd examples
  python3 4_bgv_basics.py

  Build examples: -DSEAL_BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON

  More cmake options

• Windows

  Visual Studio 2019 or newer is required. x64 support only! And use the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS command prompt to configure and build the Microsoft SEAL library. It's usually can be found in your Start Menu.

  shellCopy
  # Run in "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS" command prompt
  cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DSEAL_USE_MSGSL=OFF -DSEAL_USE_ZLIB=OFF -DSEAL_USE_ZSTD=OFF
  cmake --build build --config Release
  
  # Build
  pip install numpy pybind11
  python setup.py build_ext -i
  
  # Test
  cp seal.*.pyd examples
  cd examples
  python 4_bgv_basics.py

  Microsoft SEAL official docs.

• Docker

  requires: Docker

  To build source code into a docker image (from this directory):

  shellCopy
  docker build -t huelse/seal -f Dockerfile .

  To use the image by running it as an interactive container:

  shellCopy
  docker run -it huelse/seal

Note

• Serialize

  See more in examples/7_serialization.py, here is a simple example:

  pythonCopy
  cipher.save('cipher')
  load_cipher = Ciphertext()
  load_cipher.load(context, 'cipher')  # work if the context is valid.

  Supported classes: EncryptionParameters, Ciphertext, Plaintext, SecretKey, PublicKey, RelinKeys, GaloisKeys

• Other

  The latest SEAL library includes many changes. We’ve tried to make the Python API easier to use, but some issues may still exist. If you encounter any problems or bugs, please report them on issues.

FAQ

1. ImportError: undefined symbol

   Build a shared SEAL library cmake . -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON, and get the libseal.so,

   then change the path in setup.py, and rebuild.

2. ImportError: libseal.so... cannot find

   a. sudo ln -s /path/to/libseal.so /usr/lib

   b. add /usr/local/lib or the SEAL/native/lib to /etc/ld.so.conf and refresh it sudo ldconfig

   c. build in cmake.

3. BuildError:

   1. C++17 at least

   2. x86_64 is required, which x86_32 is not supported

4. ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'seal'

   The .so or .pyd file must be in the current directory, or you have install it already.

5. Windows Error LNK2001, RuntimeLibrary and MT_StaticRelease mismatch

   Only x64 is supported, Choose x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS.

6. Warning about building the dynamic library with static library in MacOS, etc.

   1. Build a shared SEAL library by adding a CMake option -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON

   2. Edit extra_objects in setup.py to *.dylib or else.

Typing

This project now ships seal.pyi and py.typed for Python type checking (PEP 561).

After build/install, editors such as Pylance/Pyright/mypy can use these hints for autocomplete and static analysis.

Release

Use RELEASE.md for the full PyPI release checklist.

Quick commands:

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python3 setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
python3 -m twine check dist/*
python3 -m twine upload dist/*

Contributing

• Professor: Dr. Chen

• Contributors