C++ backend =========== As of protobuf 2.6.0, a new C++ backend for the Python protobuf bindings is available, which is faster than the default pure Python implementation. It can be activated by setting the following environment variables: PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION=cpp PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION_VERSION=2 -- Robert Edmonds Thu, 28 Aug 2014 21:10:30 -0700