[Distutils] c extensions: how to rebuild and test quickly

[Paul Pogonyshev]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> At 01:30 AM 2/15/2007 +0200, Paul Pogonyshev wrote:
> >Hi,
> >
> >Distutils create dynamic library for a C extension in `build/...'
> >directory.  This makes it impossible to run program without
> >installing it, which I find very important for developing.  Ideally,
> >process should look like this:
> [...]
> 
> As someone else has mentioned, build_ext --inplace will do the trick.
> 
> However, I find it a bit awkward to use, as you have to manually rebuild 
> when testing  different Python versions (and/or platforms: I sometimes use 
> both Cygwin and Windows Python, for example).
> 
> So, setuptools' "test" and "develop" commands (as well as its own version 
> of "build_ext --inplace") do the build in the build/ subdirectory, but then 
> *copy* the files to the source directory.  Because each build directory has 
> its own platform-specific files, this automatically uses the right files 
> for the Python version you're running the "test" command with.
> 
> It's still not perfect, but it can be a nice improvement over plain 
> "build_ext -i" usage.

Yeah, I will do that if there is no better way.

Paul