[Numpy-discussion] scipy.scons branch: building numpy and scipy with scons

[Robert Kern]

David Cournapeau wrote:
> On Dec 5, 2007 1:14 PM, Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com> wrote:

>> This, too, is a workaround for the less-than-desirable situation of having
>> numpy's sizable build infrastructure bundled with the numpy package itself. If
>> this stuff were an entirely separate package focused on providing this
>> scons-based build infrastructure, then we wouldn't have a problem. We could just
>> update it on its own release schedule. People would probably be more willing to
>> use the development versions of it, too, instead of having to also buy into the
>> development version of their array package as well.
> 
> The only problem I see is that this increases the chance of losing
> synchronization. I don't know if this is significant.

The problem I see is that numpy-the-array-library and
numpy.distutils-the-build-infrastructure are two related packages with
*over*-synchronized cycles. We aren't going to push out a micro-release of
numpy-the-array-library just because a new version of Intel Fortran comes out
and changes its flags.

> IMHO, the only
> real solution would be to fix distutils (how many people want a shared
> library builder in python community, for example ?), but well, it is
> not gonna happen in a foreseeable future, unfortunately

I don't see how that's relevant to the problem I raised. Supporting Fortran in
the standard library would make the problem even worse. distutils is certainly
not broken because it doesn't support Fortran.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
 that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
 an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco