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

[Steve Dower]

> Paul Moore wrote:
> On 27 October 2014 20:45, Greg Ewing <greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
>> Nick Coghlan wrote:
>>>
>>> That assumption will allow MinGW-w64 to link with the appropriate
>>> MSVCRT versions for extention building without anything breaking.
>>
>>
>> If that works, then the same technique should allow CPython itself to
>> be built in a VS-compatible way with mingw, shouldn't it?
> 
> Yes.
> 
>> Those objecting to a mingw-built python seem to be assuming that such
>> a thing will necessarily be incompatible with VS builds, but I don't
>> see why that has to be the case.
> 
> No, we've been trying to establish whether the patches to build with mingw were
> intended to produce such a compatible build. It's not clear, but so far it seems
> that apparently that is *not* the intent (and worse, mingw-w64 may not even be
> able to build viable executables that link with msvcr100 without some heavy
> hacking, although that's still somewhat unclear).

Unless there is also opposition to moving to VC14, I'd rather see the mingw projects invest in linking to those libraries. I believe they'll have a much easier time of it than worrying about VC10, and the investment will be worth more in the future as the public API of the CRT stops changing.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to help out more than I've already offered (researching answers to specific questions). Largely because I have enough work-outside-work going on, but also because my employer won't like me getting involved with GPL'd software at all.

Cheers,
Steve

> Paul