Ben Sizer wrote: > The problem is something like this: > - Python extensions written in C require recompilation for each new > version of Python, due to Python limitations. > - Recompiling such an extension requires you to have a C compiler set > up on your local machine. > - Windows doesn't come with a C compiler, so you have to download > one. > - The compiler that Python expects you to use (Visual Studio 2003) is > no longer legally available. > - The other compiler that you can use (MinGW) is requires a slightly > convoluted set of steps in order to build an extension. > > Hopefully in the future, some of those convoluted steps will be fixed, > but that requires someone putting in the effort to do so. As is often > the case with Python, and indeed many open source projects, the people > who are knowledgeable enough to do such things usually don't need to > do them, as their setup already works just fine.
True. There really should be no need to recompile a C extension unless the linkage format of the C compiler changes, which is a very rare event. Binary compatibility needs to be improved. In the GCC world, any compiler since 3.2 should generate interchangeable output. http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Compatibility.html In the Windows world, I'm not sure about compatibility across the VC6/.NET transition, but I think you only need one version for either side of that one. John Nagle -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list