[python-win32] Building win32 extensions to Python

[Chris Botos]

James Carroll wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> I would recommend buying Visual Studio.  It's what python 2.4 is built
> with, and it makes compiling extensions nice and easy.
>
> My favorite examples of extending python include:
>
> - screengrabber extension for the python imaging library
>  http://effbot.org/downloads/
> ...
> - My second favorote example is on the wxPython Wiki, it shows how to
> extend wxPython with commercial VC++
>
>  http://wiki.wxpython.org/index.cgi/C%2B%2BExtensions
>
> I wrote the pages for VisualStudioExtenions and SconsExtensions, so
> let me know if you need them to be more helpful.  I wrote them
> hastily, but I think I got the important parts right.
>
> -Jim
>
I still need to look at these.  I'll let you know if I need help 
understanding them.  Thanks!

>> > The other option is to install Mingw (from www.mingw.org), and build
>> > using setup.py build --compiler=mingw32. This works fine, unless your
>> > extension code uses MSVC specific extensions. ...
>> > Paul.
Hi Jim and Paul,

Thanks for your responses.  I went ahead and tried MinGW.  I was able to 
build and use screengrabber and other examples.  I also used it as an 
example and created successfully a very simple "hello python" extension. 

What am I or will I be losing by using MinGW instead of Visual Studio?  
I've noted the warnings suggesting using the compiler that built python, 
but I haven't understood the reasons so far.

Chris