[Distutils] Windows .lib files for Python extensions

[Todd Miller]

I have a numarray user who is trying to link his application (on
windows) to one of the numarray DLL's and he says he needs a .lib file
to do it.  I accidentally found a bizarre approach to building a .lib
with the right name:  build with Python-2.4 and VC.NET followed by build
with Python-2.3 and VC6.0.  This produces 2.4 and 2.3 versions of
libnumarray.lib.  I didn't add anything to my setup to generate anything
other than Python extensions.

My dim recollection of "windows stuff" is that libnumarray.lib would
probably contain "DLL stubs" to permit quasi-static linking to
libnumarray.pyd.   Is this the case or is it just a static library?  Is
something new going on in the distutils for Python-2.4 which leaves
behind an artifact which would affect a Python-2.3 build?  Is there a
standard approach to producing .lib files for Python-2.3?

Regards,
Todd