In article <515aa9bf.4010...@chamonix.reportlab.co.uk>, Robin Becker <ro...@reportlab.com> wrote: > Is there a neat way to get distutils to report compiler absence? Most windows > users don't have a compiler so building extensions usually doesn't work. > > However, python's builtin batteries would allow pre-built pyds to be > downloaded > in lieu of an actual build. > > Has anyone created a fallback download compiler or similar?
I'm not totally sure I understand what you are asking but here's a guess. Today, probably the most widely-used solution to provide packages with pre-built C extension modules is to use setuptools or its Distribute fork and build a bdist egg which can then be downloaded and installed with the easy_install command. Note the whole area of binary distributions for Python is one that is now under intense active development. The standard library replacement for binary eggs will be wheels; various tools to support building and installing them are being designed and implemented and are expected to be part of Python 3.4 with downloadable support for selected earlier releases. It's all happening on the distutils-sig and in various PEPs. Nick Coughlan, the core developer leading the design effort, gives an overview of the current plans here: http://python-notes.boredomandlaziness.org/en/latest/pep_ideas/core_packa ging_api.html -- Ned Deily, n...@acm.org -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list