[Distutils] Proposal: C/C++ compiler identification

[John Skaller]

This proposal is intended as a detail of the general requrements
document for distutils.

The proposal is for the Python build process to create run time accessible
identification data whose purpose is to facilitate run time building of

        a) dynamically loadable binary python module objects *.so, .dll etc)
        b) external (shell) application tools (.exe etc)

This proposal does not fix the format of the information.
---
I would like to consider a class instance, with one instance
for each supported compiler/kind combination.

I recommend the Python make process attempt to provide
access to C, C++, and Java compilers.

A binary build, such as Mark Hammonds Windows build,
cannot be pre-configured for the client's system.

Note that interscript contains modules which compile
C/C++ code. At present, the modules have to rewritten
by the client (unless they're running RedHat Linux :-)

It is not clear to me if an _executable_ representation
of the above requirement is appropriate. If not,
at least the information required to create one
should be made available.

The representation must be editable by the client
somehow.
-------------------------------------------------------
John Skaller    email: skaller@maxtal.com.au
		http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller
		phone: 61-2-96600850
		snail: 10/1 Toxteth Rd, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia