[mst]

I think the relatively less-hacky approach would be to have the python code use the 'import' syntax to get those functions, and then how you intercept those and redirect them to DTRT is a decision with multiple possible approaches depending on your preferred set of trade-offs.

In Perl I'd probably do something like having a .pm file that does

    package MyBindings;
    
    use v5.38;
    use Exporter 'import';
    
    our @EXPORT_OK = qw(function names to export go here);
    
    use Wasm::Bindings;
    
    my_function u32 [u32]
    other_function ...
    ...

where the stuff after 'use Wasm::Bindings' is some sort of import-defining DSL (I invented one to pseudocode in, there's probably a 'real' one already you'd be better using in practice) and the 'use Wasm::Bindings;' statement switches in a different parser for the rest of the file when you load it normally. Then you could have external tools that simply know 'ignore everything up to that use line, those lines are Perl code, everything after it is yours though and should be handled however required.'

You can register custom loaders in https://bun.sh/ that I think would let me provide similar functionality there (maybe via a .wasmbind file extension or similar) and vague memory says python has ways and means to do such things but I've not looked in some years.

(I suspect you're still right that a language designed for WASM will end up being more ergonomic in that regard even so, and also that over time we'll likely find other ways it's more ergonomic that I haven't currently thought of, but I still don't think the situation for other languages is -quite- as bad as you suggest)