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

[Steve Dower]

Ray Donnelly wrote:
> What is it that you
> are afraid of if CPython can be compiled out of the box using
> mingw/MinGW-w64? Why are you fighting so hard against having option.

I'm afraid of users having numpy crash because they're using an MSVC CPython instead of a mingw CPython. I'm afraid of users not being able to use library A and library B at the same time because A requires MSVC CPython and B requires mingw CPython. (I can produce more examples if you like, but the general concern is having a fragmented community, as I said in my previous post.)

I'm fighting against "having options" because it will suck up the precious volunteer time we have and direct it away from where it would be more useful, which is making it easier to build extensions with other compilers.

I would love to see extensions for Windows built on all platforms. I see no value in building Python itself for Windows from different platforms.

If other core developers agree with you that a more "pure" build of Python is worthwhile, then they can go ahead and merge the patches (though I suspect most would like to see some traction achieved on a fork first). I think it's important that I (as Windows build manager) make my own position clear, that's all.

(The rest of your email is purely unsubstantiated opinion, which is okay to have, but it doesn't demand any reply so I've omitted it.)

Cheers,
Steve