[Numpy-discussion] [numscons] 0.8.1 released

[David Cournapeau]

Hi,

    I am pleased to announce numscons 0.8.1. numscons is a tentative for
a new build system for numpy/scipy and other packages depending on
numpy.distutils for extension code. You can get it through the usual
channels:

http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/numpy/wiki/NumScons

I did not announce releases of numscons for quite some time, but this
did not mean I did not continue working on numscons. The goal is to have
a beta available for scipy conference in August, where I will present
numscons.

Most changes since 0.8.0 are internal, with code simplification
(compiler customization, etc...). The goal is to put most of the code
upstream into scons (numscons is now around 3700 lines of code, and I
hope to be able to reduce this to ~ 2000 lines of code). In particular:
    - no custom code for fortran anymore, everything is now integrated
upstream.
    - python extensions are now built using a scons tool. This means
more reliability, and hopefully at some point upstream integration.
There are still some rough edges, but hopefully, nothing fundamental.
    - VS 2003/2005/2008 are supported as well (numpy can build with
python 2.6 alpha and Visual Studio express), using a method similar to
distutils in python 2.6 to get informations from the var*.bat files
(much simpler and more robust than relying on the brain-dead registry).

Since 0.8, the changes are not backward compatible with < 0.8. In
particular the names of python builders have changed, and you should now
use 2 scons scripts instead of one. I am sorry I have not yet updated
the documentation, but I really want to get a beta ready for scipy
conference, and I don't have so much time to keep the doc in sync. The
examples are up to date, though.

cheers,

David