We are compiling python on a multitude of platforms using a multitude of compilers and encountered problems when building python and python-extensions when specific flags need to be used by the compiler. For instance, currently we're building the trunk on a Sun Solaris 9 machine using Sun Studio 11. To make python compile in 64bit we execute the following sequence: <commands> export CC=cc export CFLAGS="-xarch=v9" export EXTRA_CFLAGS="-xarch=v9" export CXX=CC export CXXFLAGS="-xarch=v9" export F77=f77 export FFLAGS="-xarch=v9" export LDFLAGS="-xarch=v9" ./configure </commands> Unless we define 'EXTRA_CFLAGS' (which is not documented in `configure --help`) we need to add the "-xarch=v9" command-line option also manually to the generated Makefile to make sure python compiles with this option. Next when compiling python-extensions (e.g. numarray) using distutils, distutils does not know it needs to pass the "-xarch=v9" option when linking a dynamic library. Distutils will still consult the LDFLAGS env.var. but IMO it also needs to use the content of LDFLAGS at the time python itself was compiled to secure that extensions are built compatible with python itself. toon