[Q] Distributing extensions, compilers, and compatibility

[John Copella]

I read in the SWIG documentation that extensions should be compiled with the
same compiler as that used to build Python itself.  In my application, I
will be distributing an extension (as a shared lib) to customers where I
cannot guarantee this to be so -- can anyone verify from experience that
this is a necessary restriction?

FWIW, I will need to support the HP-UX and AIX environments, using the
commercial compilers from HP and IBM.

Thanks for any assistance,

John Copella