[Distutils] Dynamic linking on Linux, Mac OS, et al

[Robert Kern]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> Hi folks.  I just implemented preliminary shared library build support for 
> setuptools, but I ran into a bit of a snag.  I was operating under the 
> assumption that you could simply put shared libraries in the directory 
> alongside the extensions that use them, but in practice it turns out that 
> this only works on Windows.  On Linux I found that you could only put 
> shared libraries in a directory on LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and I suspect a similar 
> issue will be found under OS X and other Unixes.

On OS X, the headers of the dylib can be rewritten to point to a specific path.
IIRC, this can be a relative path. Bob Ippolito's py2app does this kind of
rewriting for making relocatable .app bundles. I'm sure he'll chime in soon, so
I'm not entirely sure why I bothered replying myself.

-- 
Robert Kern
robert.kern at gmail.com

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter