[Python-Dev] Status of C compilers for Python on Windows

[Sturla Molden]

Nathaniel Smith <njs at pobox.com> wrote:

> You may want to get in touch with Carl Kleffner -- he's done a bunch
> of work lately on getting a mingw-based toolchain to the point where
> it can build numpy and scipy. 

To build *Python extensions*, one can use Carl's toolchain or the VC9
compiler for Python 2.7 that Microsoft just released.

To build *Python* you need Visual Studio, Visual Studio Express, Windows
SDK, or Cygwin because there is no other build process available on
Windows. Python cannot be built with MinGW.

The official 64-bit Python installer from Python.org is built with the
Windows SDK compiler, not Visual Studio. The Windows SDK is a free
download. The 32-bit installer is built with Visual Studio.

Sturla