[Distutils] bdist and --compiler

[Greg Ward]

On 29 May 2000, Rene Liebscher said:
> If I try 'help' to sdist and bdist, I get 'formats' and 'format'. I
> think
> we should change this so both are called 'format'.

Not quite.  First, we have to change it so both of them can take
multiple formats.  For obscure, annoying reasons (which I have since
forgotten and which may have changed), "bdist" can only take one format
-- ie. the syntax is inconsistent because the semantics are
inconsistent.  Fix the semantics, and we can fix the syntax.

Oh, now I remember: because many formats map to the "bdist_dumb"
command, and because the command life-cycle used to be strictly linear.
That has been fixed, so it should be possible to run "bdist_dumb"
multiple times with multiple formats.  (The option is to complicate
"bdist_dumb" so it can generate multiple formats in one go; I dislike
this because it means duplicating the "multiple formats" logic in
"bdist" and "bdist_dumb".)

I've added this to my todo list -- have to think about the consequences
a bit, but offhand it should work.

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward - Linux nerd                                  gward@python.net
http://starship.python.net/~gward/
Never try to outstubborn a cat.