--- /dev/null
+
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+General presentation of the SMESH python package
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+The SMESH python package contains (today) helper functions to
+manipulate mesh elements and interact with these elements.
+
+Note that these functions either encapsulate the python programming
+interface of SMESH core (the CORBA or SWIG interface for example) or
+extend existing utilities as the ``smesh.py`` module.
+
+The functions are distributed in the python package
+``salome.smesh``.
+
+The specification of the programming interface of this package is
+detailled in the part :doc:`Documentation of the programming interface
+(API)</docapi>` of this documentation.
+
+.. note::
+ The main package ``salome`` contains other sub-packages that are
+ distributed with the other SALOME modules. For example, the KERNEL
+ module provides the python package ``salome.kernel`` and GEOM the
+ package ``salome.geom``.
