These examples/tests are for when the swig generated wrapper module is split between two packages. Specifically the pure python part is part of a package and the C/C++ part is not in any package at all. Historically swig has supported this sort of thing. The -builtin option is tested as well because additional import code is generated by swig when it is used. The builtin tests are for this additional code in the python wrappers. vanilla # "plane Jane" module both halves in pkg1 vanilla_split # python 1/2 in pkg1 C 1/2 in global namespace builtin # both halves in pkg1 (-builtin passed to swig) builtin # python 1/2 in pkg1 C 1/2 in global namespace (with -builtin)