[Python-Dev] ctypes and win64

[Thomas Heller]

Thomas Heller schrieb (this was before Python 2.5 had been released):
> The _ctypes extension module does currently not even build on Win64.
> 
> I'm (slowly) working on this (for AMD64, not for itanium), but it may
> take a good while before it is stable - It is not even fully implemented
> currently.
> 
> The win64 msi installer installs the ctypes package anyway, but it cannot be
> imported.
> 
> I suggest that it should be removed from the 2.5 win64 msi installers, so that
> at least, when it is ready, can be installed as separate package.


Then, Martin changed the win64 msi installer to exclude the ctypes package
when the _ctypes.pyd extension does not exist because it was not built.

In the meantime I have integrated patches (in the trunk) so that _ctypes
can be built for win64/AMD64, and does even work.

Can these changes be merged into release25-maint?  IMO this is low-risk
because they contain only small changes to the files in Modules/_ctypes/libffi_msvc,
plus *some* changes to support the Windows LP64 model.

I would prefer to merge these changes into release25-maint, because I want to
also release the standalone ctypes packages from this branch (using it with
svn:externals from somewhere else).

The official Python 2.5.x win64/AMD64 windows installers should still *not*
contain the ctypes package, but they could install it separately.

Thanks,
Thomas