[Distutils] Access to Python config info

[John Skaller]

>It *should* be done by the installation Makefile. I would hope that we
>obsolete the third-party use of Setup/config.h/Makefile.pre.in. Those
>are even close to the convenience that we can establish.

        Yes! I think this is a primary goal.
I will note: it will _not_ work for all modules because of the problem
finding libraries and header files. But it will work for all modules
which implement 'pure' data structures, and it will work for all
'opt' modules that are just optimisations of Python script.

        This latter class is _crucial_; in fact it is vastly
more important than distribution of modules: it permits
dynamic (run-time) generation of C modules.

        In particular, one could write a 'compiler' that generated
either Python or C from some language (such as Python :-) .. IN Python.
(Because apart from generating text, which Python can already do,
the only thing else needed is to compile that text into a binary:
this is the missing link which will make C extensions work
like Python modules).

        BTW: It is _also_ recommended to have the ability
to generate applications, not just Python modules. The 'make'
system know how to do that too, and it is useful for extending
Python with 'shell' tools.
-------------------------------------------------------
John Skaller    email: skaller@maxtal.com.au
		http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller
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