[Numpy-discussion] Binary releases

[Nathaniel Smith]

On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 7:10 AM, Ralf Gommers <ralf.gommers at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 2:45 AM, <josef.pktd at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 9:04 PM, Charles R Harris
>> <charlesr.harris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hi All,
>> >
>> > Numpy 1.8 is about ready for an rc1, which brings up the question of
>> > which
>> > binary builds so put up on sourceforge. For Windows maybe
>> >
>> > 32 bit windows, python 2.6, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3, compiled with MSVC
>> > 64 bit windows, python 2.6, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3, compiled with MSVC, linked
>> > with
>> > MKL
>>
>> Are we not running into problems with scipy?
>> scipy would need to use the same libraries, AFAIU (given Fortran and
>> maybe C compatibilities)
>
> Indeed. If numpy goes MSVC + MKL, then scipy should go the same way. Some
> other options to go to MinGW 4.x are being discussed on
> https://github.com/scipy/scipy/issues/2829.

Is it actually legal to distribute scipy linked with MKL? Scipy still
includes GPL code (umfpack), and shipping MKL+GPL code integrated into
a single download is extremely dicey... (this goes also for any
downstream users who might package precompiled numpy/scipy with other
packages).

(In either case I think we ought to just bite the bullet and get MinGW
4.x running as a supported option, even if we don't use it for the
official binaries and even if this requires some unaesthetic hacks. I
bet we'd have more windows developers if there was an accessible way
to build on windows...)

-n