[Numpy-discussion] NumPy, shared libraries and ctypes

[Robert Kern]

Andrew Straw wrote:
> Back to your email: I don't understand why you're trying to build a
> shared library with distutils. What's wrong with a plain old c-compiler
> and linker (and mt.exe if you're using MS VC 8)? You can build shared
> libraries this way with Makefiles, scons, Visual Studio, and about a
> billion other solutions that have evolved since early C days. I can
> understand the desire of getting "python setup.py install" to work, but
> I suspect spawning an appropriate subprocess to do the compilation would
> be easier and more robust than attempting to get distutils to do
> something it's not designed for.  (Then again, to see what numpy
> distutils can do, well, let's just say I'm amazed.) Along these lines, I
> noticed that ctypes-itself seems to have put some hooks into setup.py to
> perform at least part of the configure/make dance on linux, although I
> haven't investigated any further yet. Perhaps that's a better way to go
> than bending distutils to your will?

Well, wrapper he's writing destined for scipy, so "python setup.py build" must work.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco