[ python-Feature Requests-1348719 ] please support the free visual studio sdk compiler

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Feature Requests item #1348719, was opened at 2005-11-04 23:58
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Category: Distutils
Group: None
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Submitted By: David McNab (davidmcnab)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: please support the free visual studio sdk compiler

Initial Comment:
Hi,

I noticed, with some pain, that while pythons 2.1 to
2.3 are built with msvc6, and allow for easy
compilation of extensions.

However, the official binary distro of python2.4 for
windows is built with ms vs .net 2003 (version 7.1).

I've tried using the .net framework sdk compiler:
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9B3A2CA6-3647-4070-9F41-A333C6B9181D&displaylang=en)
also the Visual C++ Toolkit:
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=272be09d-40bb-49fd-9cb0-4bfa122fa91b&DisplayLang=en)
but in both cases, distutils complains that it can't
find a suitable compiler ("error: Python was built with
version 7.1 of visual studio...").

I did some hacking on distutils/msvccompiler.py, and
noticed that this module is searching for certain
registry keys that are only written by the non-free
Visual Studio .NET 2003 compiler.

As it is, this situation imposes on developers a
deterrent against upgrading to python 2.4. There are
millions of msvc6 installations out there, but for
many, the cost of upgrading to msvs .net 2003 is
prohibitive.

I have considered building python2.4 from source using
msvc6 (I notice the project/workspace files are present
in the source), but feel this is unwise because I could
end up building extension modules that are
binary-incompatible with everyone else's python2.4

I (and countless others, I'm sure) would really
appreciate it if the python devs could rework things to
make it possible to build python2.4 extensions using
the free ms compilers mentioned above).

Cheers
david


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