[Python-Dev] Backporting the 3.5+ Windows build project files to 2.7

[Steve Dower]

Zachary Ware wrote:
> With the stipulation that the officially supported compiler won't change, I want
> to make sure there's no major opposition to replacing the old project files in
> PCbuild. The old files would move to PC\VS9.0, so they'll still be available and
> usable if necessary.

I'm selfishly -0, since this won't benefit me and will give me more work (I don't develop 2.7 other than to build the releases, so this will just cause me to mess with my build machine). But since other people are doing most of the work I'm not going to try and block it.

I don't see any real need to emit scary warnings about compiler compatibility - a simple warning like in 3.5 for old compilers is fine. 

> Using the backported project files to build 2.7 would require two versions of
> Visual Studio to be installed; VS2010 (or newer) would be required in addition
> to VS2008. All Windows core developers should already have VS2010 for Python 3.4
> (and/or VS2015 for 3.5) and I expect that anyone else who cares enough to still
> have VS2008 probably has (or can easily get) one of the free editions of VS 2010
> or newer, so I don't consider this to be a major issue.

It may have a workaround, but it also could be a serious blocking issue for those who can't install another version. Especially since there's no benefit to the resulting builds.

> The backported files could be added alongside the old files in PCbuild, in a
> better-named 'NewPCbuild' directory, or in a subdirectory of PC. I would rather
> replace the old project files in PCbuild, though; I'd like for the backported
> files to be the recommended way to build, complete with support from
> PCbuild/build.bat which would make the new project files the default for the
> buildbots.

Agreed, just replace them. PCBuild is messy enough with the output files in there (I'd avoid moving them - plenty of the stdlib and test suite expects them to be there), we don't need duplicate project files.

Cheers,
Steve

> I have a work-in-progress branch with the backported files in PCbuild, which you
> can find at https://hg.python.org/sandbox/zware/log/project_files_backport.
> There are still a couple bugs to work out (and a couple unrelated changes to
> PC/pyconfig.h), but most everything works as expected.
> 
> Looking forward to hearing others' opinions,
> --
> Zach