[Python-Dev] addressing distutils inability to track file dependencies

[Guido van Rossum]

> The question is whether we want distutils to be a development
> tool as well, or rather stick to its main purpose: that of
> simplifying distribution and installation of software (and
> thanks to Greg, it's great at that !).

Yes.

Much of distutils is concerned with compiling, and that part is also
needed by a development tool.  So I'd say it's a pretty good match.

You have to specify the extension build rules as some kind of script.
We found Modules/Setup + makesetup inadequate, and moved to setup.py +
distutils.  Distutils is the best we got; it knows about many
compilers and platforms; it was pretty easy to add .h file dependency
handling (though not discovery).

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)