PEP 229, Using Distutils to Build Python, Andrew Kuchling

pep-0000.txt

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ Index by Category
  S   222  pep-0222.txt  Web Library Enhancements               Kuchling
  I   226  pep-0226.txt  Python 2.1 Release Schedule            Hylton
  S   227  pep-0227.txt  Statically Nested Scopes               Hylton
+ S   229  pep-0229.txt  Using Distutils to Build Python        Kuchling
 
  Pie-in-the-sky PEPs (not ready; may become active yet)
 
@@ -121,6 +122,7 @@ Numerical Index
  I   226  pep-0226.txt  Python 2.1 Release Schedule            Hylton
  S   227  pep-0227.txt  Statically Nested Scopes               Hylton
  S   228  pep-0228.txt  Reworking Python's Numeric Model       Zadka
+ S   229  pep-0229.txt  Using Distutils to Build Python        Kuchling
 
 
 Key

pep-0229.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+PEP: 229
+Title: Using Distutils to Build Python
+Version: $Revision$
+Author: akuchlin@mems-exchange.org (A.M. Kuchling)
+Status: Draft
+Type: Standards
+Created: 16-Nov-2000
+Post-History:
+
+
+Introduction
+
+    The Modules/Setup mechanism has some flaws:
+
+    * People have to remember to uncomment bits of Modules/Setup in
+      order to get all the possible modules.
+
+    * Moving Setup to a new version of Python is tedious; new modules
+      have been added, so you can't just copy the older version, but
+      have to reconcile the two versions.
+
+    * Users have to figure out where the needed libraries, such as
+      zlib, are installed.
+
+
+Proposal
+
+    Use the Distutils to build the modules that come with Python.
+
+    The changes can be broken up into several pieces:
+
+    1. The Distutils needs some Python modules to be able to build
+       modules.  Currently I believe the minimal list is posix, _sre,
+       and string.
+
+       These modules will have to be built before the Distutils can be
+       used, so they'll simply be hardwired into Modules/Makefile and
+       be automatically built.
+
+    2. A top-level setup.py script will be written that checks the
+       libraries installed on the system and compiles as many modules
+       as possible.
+
+    3. Modules/Setup will be kept and settings in it will override
+       setup.py's usual behavior, so you can disable a module known
+       to be buggy, or specify particular compilation or linker flags.
+       However, in the common case where setup.py works correctly,
+       everything in Setup will remain commented out.  The other
+       Setup.* become unnecessary, since nothing will be generating
+       Setup automatically.
+
+
+Unresolved Issues
+ 
+    Do we need to make it possible to disable the 3 hard-wired modules
+    without manually hacking the Makefiles?  If yes, perhaps a
+    configure switch is sufficient.
+
+    The Distutils always compile modules as shared libraries.  How do
+    we support compiling them statically into the resulting Python
+    binary?
+   
+    makesetup and the other contents of $(LIBPL)/config need to be
+    preserved for compatibility with existing modules; for how many
+    versions do we need to keep them around?
+
+
+Copyright
+
+    This document has been placed in the public domain.
+
+
+
+Local Variables:
+mode: indented-text
+indent-tabs-mode: nil
+End: