[python-win32] building pywin32 on Server 2003 x64

[Mark Hammond]

> Firstly, I am currently using VS2005 as I am compiling Python-2.5.2
because 
> I was going for the most stable python. Everyone here seems to think I
should 
> be using 2.6, as far as I can tell this is still in alpha and I am not
convinced
> of the wisdom of using an alpha testing system for production. Secondly we
don't 
> have 2008 yet in my organisation and the express edition doesn't contain
the 64 
> bit compiler.

I can sympathize - but the reality is that so far, it has been too hard for
me to support 64bit builds using the latest Vista features using VS.NET.  No
Python version has been released that uses VS2005, so that's not a priority
- although if people would like to contribute patches so people who do need
this can build it, I'd be happy to accept them.

> All my development is on a 64bit system (I am not cross compiling). I have
been 

Pedantic side-note: best I can tell, all the compilers are x86 binaries, so
even on a 64bit OS, we are still cross-compiling :)

> using the SDK for server 2003. If I manage to sort this out anything I
have I 
> will be sure to share. However although I have managed to coax subversion
to 
> download through our firewall I have not yet managed to get CVS to do so
and 
> have been downloading CVS at home on my linux machine and e-mailing it in
(not ideal!).

Grab the source .zip for build 211 now it is fresh, but otherwise, a work
around would be to update CVS from home, then run "setup.py sdist" and move
the resulting .zip file to work.

> What do people think of python 2.6 on windows? is it ready?

It's in pretty good shape IMO.

> I note the first beta should be out on the 4th June, this might be more
reasonable. 
> I don't think I could sell "let's use this alpha version in production" to
anyone ;)

I agree for 32bit builds, but IMO the 64 bit builds are somewhat different -
the lack of 64bit binaries for most python 2.5 extensions implies to me that
x64 on 2.6 isn't any risker; particularly when talking about 2.5 builds
using an "unsupported" compiler.  From pywin32's POV, I'm quite certain more
people are testing x64 using 2.6 builds than 2.5.

Cheers,

Mark