[Numpy-discussion] Instructions on building from source

[Fernando Perez]

Howdy,

I was just trying to explain to a new user how to build numpy from
source on ubuntu and I realized that there's not much info on this
front in the source tree.  Scipy has a nice INSTALL.txt that even
lists the names of the debian/ubuntu packages needed for the build
(which can be a useful guide on other distros).  Should we have a
stripped-down copy of this doc somewhere in the top-level directory of
numpy?

It's also disconcerting for a new user that there's no visible
documentation directory at the top, perhaps listing the existence of
numpy/doc in the readme could help.

I know there's plenty of work being done right now on the docs, so
perhaps sprucing up the 'out of the tarball' experience for those
building from source could be done with a very reasonable amount of
effort.

Cheers,

f