[Distutils] Compiling libraries

[Andrew M. Kuchling]

Greg Ward writes:
>I think it's getting there for module developers.  The setup.py for
>Distutils itself is as simple as I can imagine it being.  The three

This reminds me of something; I've looked at using Distutils for the
PyXML package, and ran aground on compiling Expat, a library required
for the other stuff.  What I'd want to do is jump out of the Distutils
framework and run 'cd expat ; make'.  How should that be done?
Writing my own subclass for the build command?  Is there a 'run this
set of shell commands' hook?  Or should I just list every single .c
file in Expat as a dependency for the relevant module? (After all,
running shell commands is a Unix-ism.)

-- 
A.M. Kuchling			http://starship.python.net/crew/amk/
The past is always knocking at the door, trying to break through into today.
    -- Dr Occult, in BOOKS OF MAGIC #1