Building Numpy with Visual Studio?
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4298620df13fcd77131cd5df64253f60.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
As I read the build guidelines for Numpy at www.scipy.org/Installing_SciPy/Windows I see that the instructions suggest that Numpy can be built with the MSVC tools against an ATLAS lib built with Cygwin tools. At this point I am perplexed. I thought that Cygwin used ELF and that Windows used COFF (actually PE) for static libs. So it is not obvious to me why setup.py should be able to build with the MSVC tools if the atlas and lapack libs are built with Cygwin tools. Maybe the Microsoft linker understands both ELF and COFF? Or maybe Cygwin actually uses PE? Can someone help me understand this? Thanks.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/764323a14e554c97ab74177e0bce51d4.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Coatimundi wrote:
As I read the build guidelines for Numpy at www.scipy.org/Installing_SciPy/Windows I see that the instructions suggest that Numpy can be built with the MSVC tools against an ATLAS lib built with Cygwin tools.
At this point I am perplexed. I thought that Cygwin used ELF and that Windows used COFF (actually PE) for static libs.
So it is not obvious to me why setup.py should be able to build with the MSVC tools if the atlas and lapack libs are built with Cygwin tools.
Maybe the Microsoft linker understands both ELF and COFF? Or maybe Cygwin actually uses PE?
The latter. -- Robert Kern "I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth." -- Umberto Eco
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4298620df13fcd77131cd5df64253f60.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Robert Kern wrote:
Coatimundi wrote:
As I read the build guidelines for Numpy at www.scipy.org/Installing_SciPy/Windows I see that the instructions suggest that Numpy can be built with the MSVC tools against an ATLAS lib built with Cygwin tools.
At this point I am perplexed. I thought that Cygwin used ELF and that Windows used COFF (actually PE) for static libs.
So it is not obvious to me why setup.py should be able to build with the MSVC tools if the atlas and lapack libs are built with Cygwin tools.
Maybe the Microsoft linker understands both ELF and COFF? Or maybe Cygwin actually uses PE?
The latter.
Thanks. I scoured the Cygwin site and finally found a strong clue to this in the Cygwin entry at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygwin#History
participants (2)
-
Coatimundi
-
Robert Kern