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

[Nick Coghlan]

On 30 October 2014 00:46, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Oct 2014 10:31:50 -0400
> "R. David Murray" <rdmurray at bitdance.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 29 Oct 2014 10:22:14 -0400, Tres Seaver <tseaver at palladion.com> wrote:
>> > On 10/28/2014 11:59 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>> >
>> > > most developers on Windows do have access to Microsoft tool
>> >
>> > I assume you mean python-dev folks who work on Windows:  it is certainly
>> > not true for the vast majority of develoeprs who use Python on Windows,
>> > who don't have the toolchain build their own C extensions.
>>
>> I'm pretty sure he meant "most people who develop software for Windows",
>> even though that's not how he phrased it.  But this does not include, as
>> you point out, people who develop Python software that *also* works on
>> Windows.
>>
>> If you are writing code targeted for Windows, I think you are very
>> likely to have an MSDN subscription of some sort if your package includes C
>> code.  I'm sure it's not 100%, though.
>
> You can use Express editions of Visual Studio.

And the PSF can help out if folks working on Python software for
Windows need an MSDN subscription. The objections general aren't about
the availability (or lack thereof) of Windows build tools (especially
now the Python 2.7 compiler availability issue has been addressed via
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44266), it's
more about:

* wanting to build for Windows within the scope of an existing POSIX
based build automation system
* folks that prefer to use only open source software themselves
wanting to make their projects available to Windows users

"Python as first language" is still a relatively novel phenomenon, and
the existing distribution infrastructure certainly wasn't originally
designed for that use case.

Regards,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia