[Python-Dev] Precompiled headers

[Martin v. Loewis]

Jack Jansen <Jack.Jansen@oratrix.com> writes:

> On woensdag, oktober 23, 2002, at 12:54 , Martin v. Loewis wrote:
> > I find the compile times of the Python tree on my Pentium 930MHz
> > system to be accceptable, so I'd personally rather avoid a feature
> > with the potential of producing incorrect binaries.
> 
> This last sentence sounds like you know something that I don't, could
> you explain? Precompiled headers keep track of the preprocessor
> symbols they depend on, and their value at precompile time, so I've
> always thought that this (together with correct Makefile dependencies)
> would be safe...

... assuming it is correctly implemented. All implementations of
precompiled headers I've used so far had certain limitations
(sometimes documented, sometimes undocumented), which would cause
users to throw away the precompiled stuff from time to time to make
sure that the compiler would really pick up their source code.

I don't know the Apple gcc implementation of precompiled headers,
though - it might be flawless.

Regards,
Martin