missing python-config and building python on Windows

[Damon Register]

I am attempting to build gtk and glade using mingw/msys. It seems that some
of the packages require python. I installed 2.7.3 using the installer from
python.org. That worked for some of the packages but now I am trying to do
one that needs python-config which I don't find in the installation directory.

I tried building from source using mingw/msys but that had too many problems
so I gave up on that. I thought I might try building with MSVC 2010 since
it appears to be supported and I have that at work. There are a few problems
with this:
1. though I have looked in a few readme files, I don't see instructions for
installing what I have just built using MSVC. Where can I find the
instructions for installing after building with MSVC?

2. I have searched the project directory but I don't find python-config. Is
this some sort of optional thing that isn't built by default? I tried
searching this list and although I find a few questions about it, I don't
see an answer to where I can find it.

3. It seems that MSVC doesn't produce the .a library files needed for linking
into a mingw built program. Do I have to do that fun trick to create the
.a from the dll?

Damon Register

[Mark Hammond]

On 1/08/2012 10:48 AM, Damon Register wrote:
> I am attempting to build gtk and glade using mingw/msys. It seems that
> some
> of the packages require python. I installed 2.7.3 using the installer from
> python.org. That worked for some of the packages but now I am trying to do
> one that needs python-config which I don't find in the installation
> directory.
>
> I tried building from source using mingw/msys but that had too many
> problems
> so I gave up on that. I thought I might try building with MSVC 2010 since
> it appears to be supported and I have that at work. There are a few
> problems
> with this:
> 1. though I have looked in a few readme files, I don't see instructions for
> installing what I have just built using MSVC. Where can I find the
> instructions for installing after building with MSVC?

There is no such process. In general, you can just run directly from
the built tree.

> 2. I have searched the project directory but I don't find
> python-config. Is
> this some sort of optional thing that isn't built by default? I tried
> searching this list and although I find a few questions about it, I
> don't
> see an answer to where I can find it.

I'm afraid I don't know what python-config is. It appears it might be a
reflection of how Python was configured and build on *nix systems - if
that is the case then it is expected that one does not exist for Windows
(as it doesn't use the *nix build chain).

> 3. It seems that MSVC doesn't produce the .a library files needed for
> linking
> into a mingw built program. Do I have to do that fun trick to
> create the
> .a from the dll?

I'm surprised MSVC *can* build .a files for mingw - but AFAIK, even if
MSVC could do that, I believe Python makes no attempt to build with
support for linking into mingw programs.

Mark

[Damon Register]

On 7/31/2012 11:49 PM, Mark Hammond wrote:
> On 1/08/2012 10:48 AM, Damon Register wrote:
>> 1. though I have looked in a few readme files, I don't see instructions for
>> installing what I have just built using MSVC. Where can I find the
>> instructions for installing after building with MSVC?
>
> There is no such process. In general, you can just run directly from the built tree.

That is a bummer. That makes me more curious about how the Windows
installer was made and how all the pieces were gathered together.

> I'm afraid I don't know what python-config is. It appears it might be a reflection of how Python
> was configured and build on *nix systems - if that is the case then it is expected that one does not
> exist for Windows (as it doesn't use the *nix build chain).

which means, I guess, that mingw is barely supported if at all.
While it may be Windows, mingw/msys is a nice way to build many
programs that are unix oriented. I suppose that just for fun I
should try to build python on SuSE to see how it goes.

>> 3. It seems that MSVC doesn't produce the .a library files needed for
>> linking
>> into a mingw built program. Do I have to do that fun trick to
>> create the
>> .a from the dll?
>
> I'm surprised MSVC *can* build .a files for mingw - but AFAIK, even if MSVC could do that, I believe
> Python makes no attempt to build with support for linking into mingw programs.

I don't know that MSVC can do this. The only process of which I am aware is a
two step process using pexports and dlltool to generate the .a file from a dll.
One reason I was using the python.org installer is that it already had the
python27.a file. Now I am even more curious about what was used to build python
and create that installer.

The python.org installer provided all I needed for build most python dependent
apps with mingw until I ran into one that needed python-config. I suppose that
if python-config does what I suspect it does (produce cflags and ldflags as
does pkg-config) then perhaps I could just fake it by replacing use of
python-config with what the cflags and ldflags should be for where I have
python.

Damon Register

[Prasad, Ramit]

I have no knowledge about building Python but does this help?
http://wiki.python.org/moin/Building%20Python%20with%20the%20free%20MS%20C%20Toolkit

Ramit

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[Terry Reedy]

On 8/1/2012 7:47 AM, Damon Register wrote:
> On 7/31/2012 11:49 PM, Mark Hammond wrote:
>> On 1/08/2012 10:48 AM, Damon Register wrote:
>>> 1. though I have looked in a few readme files, I don't see
>>> instructions for
>>> installing what I have just built using MSVC. Where can I find the
>>> instructions for installing after building with MSVC?
>>
>> There is no such process. In general, you can just run directly from
>> the built tree.
> That is a bummer. That makes me more curious about how the Windows
> installer was made and how all the pieces were gathered together.

All I know is that the Windows installer is a .msi file created by a
script that uses msilib. I don't know whether that script is in the
repository.

--
Terry Jan Reedy