[Distutils] GCC versions and binary egg names

[Chris Withers]

David Cournapeau wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 2:39 AM, Chris Withers <chris at simplistix.co.uk> wrote:
> 
>> Such as between Ubuntu 8.04 and 10.04? ;-)
> 
> That should still work, they both use gcc 4.x (unless you depend on
> C++, and then you are in for a fun ride...)

Chaco and wxPython, let the fun begin :-(
>> One idea I've had is to have a separate index for each required combination
>> and use layered --find-links= with easy_install to pick the right
>> combination.
> 
> That's one of the numerous reason why the whole idea of embedding
> metadata in the filename falls short once you go beyond trivial
> issues.

Indeed, but the other option requires a more complicated service to 
query. Being able to "serve" packages from a simple folder or from 
simple folder served via svn or Apache is a huge win.

> The combination alone makes it complicated very fast. Trying
> to come up with such a scheme in python is foolish IMHO: the problem
> is complicated, and nobody has been able to solve it in a general
> manner anyway.

I think that's overly pessemistic. What problems do you see with the 
multiple-find-links suggestion I made above?

> I would strongly look into system packages-based solutions unless you
> really cannot use them (non root install).

I pertty strongly disagree. In a heterogenous operating system 
environment, where that environment includes MacOS and Windows, trying 
to maintain separate os packages for each of the os packaging systems is 
a nightmare.

Working with sdists as much as possible with binary eggs thrown in where 
possible seems like the best way forward for me. What are the problems 
you see with that solution?

cheers,

Chris