I just checked in a new version of bdist_wininst. Changes: distutils/command/bdist_wininst.py: - the windows installer is again able to compile after installing the files. Note: The default has changed, the packager has to give --no-target-compile/--no-target-optimize to NOT compile on the target system. (Another note: install_lib's --compile --optimize options have the same semantics to switch off the compilation. Shouldn't the names change?) - All references to specific python versions are gone. - A small bug: raise DistutilsPlatformError ("...") instead of raise DistutilsPlatformError, ("...") - When bdist_wininst creates an installer for one specific python version, this is reflected in the name: Distutils-0.9.2.win32-py15.exe instead of Distutils-0.9.2.win32.exe - bdist_wininst, when run as script, reads the wininst.exe file and rewrites itself. Previously this was done by hand. misc/install.c - All the changes needed for compilation - Deleted a lot of debug/dead code Thomas Heller