[Python-Dev] Plea to distribute debugging lib

[David Abrahams]

For years, Boost.Python has been doing some hacks to work around the
fact that a Windows Python distro doesn't include the debug build of
the library.  

  http://www.boost.org/libs/python/doc/building.html#variants

explains.  We wanted to make it reasonably convenient for Windows
developers (and our distributed testers) to work with a debug build of
the Boost.Python library and of their own code.  Having to download
the Python source and build the debug DLL was deemed unacceptable.

Well, those hacks have run out of road.  VC++8 now detects that some
of its headers have been #included with _DEBUG and some without, and
it will refuse to build anything when it does.  We have several new
hacks to work around that detection, and I think we _might_ be able to
get away with them for one more release.  But it's really time to do
it right.  MS is recommending that we (Boost) start distributing a
debug build of the Python DLL with Boost, but Boost really seems like
the wrong place to host such a thing.  Is there any way Python.org can
make a debug build more accessible?

Thanks,
Dave

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com