billiard

Python multiprocessing fork with improvements and bugfixes

billiard Permissive license BSD Active ★ 435 v4.2.4 released 2025-11-30

Install

billiard on PyPI

pip

pip install billiard

uv

uv add billiard

poetry

poetry add billiard

Package facts

License	BSD (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.7)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	none
Maintenance	actively maintained — 256 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-08-13
First released	2009-11-16
Popularity	one of the top 1,000 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: billiard-4.2.4-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: multiprocessing, pool, process

Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: BSD LicenseOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: POSIXProgramming Language :: CProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python ModulesTopic :: System :: Distributed Computing

About billiard

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

======== billiard ========

:Version: 4.2.4 :Web: https://billiard.readthedocs.io :Download: https://pypi.org/project/billiard/ :Source: https://github.com/celery/billiard/ :DeepWiki: |deepwiki|

.. |build-status-lin| image:: https://github.com/celery/billiard/actions/workflows/ci.yaml/badge.svg :alt: Build status on Linux :target: https://github.com/celery/billiard/actions/workflows/ci.yaml

.. |build-status-win| image:: https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/github/celery/billiard?png=true&branch=main :alt: Build status on Windows :target: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/ask/billiard

.. |license| image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/l/billiard.svg :alt: BSD License :target: https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause

.. |wheel| image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/wheel/billiard.svg :alt: Billiard can be installed via wheel :target: https://pypi.org/project/billiard/

.. |pyversion| image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/billiard.svg :alt: Supported Python versions. :target: https://pypi.org/project/billiard/

.. |pyimp| image::...

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AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

billiard is a maintained fork of Python's multiprocessing module that provides enhanced process pool management, bug fixes, and improvements for distributed computing tasks.

Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. Active maintenance status with recent commits and releases; last release 256 days ago. Supports Python 3.7–3.13 and PyPy, distributed as a wheel.

BSD license (permissive) places minimal restrictions on use, modification, and distribution in both open and closed-source projects.

Usage

pip install billiard==4.2.4

from billiard import Pool

with Pool(processes=4) as pool:
    results = pool.map(function, iterable)

Requires Python >=3.7; some features may require system-level process management capabilities.

Verdict: billiard is a stable, actively maintained multiprocessing enhancement used by Celery and the broader distributed-computing ecosystem. Zero known vulnerabilities, permissive BSD license, no dependencies, and broad Python version support make it a low-risk choice for process pool workloads.

Needs verification

Whether C extensions require compilation on all platforms or if wheels cover all target systems
Performance characteristics compared to standard library multiprocessing in current Python versions

multiprocessing poolprocess pool managementdistributed task executionpython multiprocessing forkconcurrent process handlingworker poolcelery multiprocessing