[Distutils] linking modules to a shared library

[Stephen Langer]

On Oct 3, 2005, at 1:17 PM, Ronald Oussoren wrote:

>
> I'd guess that nobody has needed this functionality badly enough to
> volunteer extending distutils :-).
>

Since I do need it, I've been working on build_shlib and  
install_shlib distutils commands for building and installing shared  
libraries that extensions can link to.  The commands are working on  
Linux, OS X 10.4, and (sort-of) on SGI Irix.

I have a few questions:

Why does UnixCCompiler._compile spawn self.compiler_so?  This seems  
to be wrong (even for regular extensions).  It works satisfactorily  
when the C compiler can also handle C++ code, but fails when the C  
and C++ compilers are separate, as when using the SGI MIPSpro  
compiler.  Shouldn't _compile use CCompiler.detect_language and spawn  
compiler_cxx if necessary?  (I think this is a problem not just with  
build_shlib, but with build_ext and build_clib as well.)

py2app is the only other package I know that adds commands to  
distutils.  It modifies the Distribution class like this:
   class Distribution(distutils.dist.Distribution):
      def __init__(self, attrs):
           etc...
           distutils.dist.Distribution.__init__(self, attrs)
   distutils.core.Distribution = Distribution
The problem with this is that any other package (such as mine) that  
also modifies Distribution will either overwrite or be overwritten by  
the py2app modifications.  Shouldn't Distribution be modified like this:
    oldDist = distutils.dist.Distribution
    class Distribution(oldDist):
       def __init__(self, attrs):
           etc...
           oldDist.__init__(self, attrs)
   distutils.dist.Distribution = Distribution
Then if two different packages both modify the same class, the  
__init__ calls are chained together.

What's the best way of testing my code on a variety of platforms?  I  
only have easy access to a few different architectures and operating  
systems.  There are spots in the code where I've pretty much just had  
to guess at what to do, based on other parts of distutils.

Would someone who's more familiar with distutils than I am like to  
take a look at what I've done and give me some feedback?   I can  
either e-mail the files or put them on a web site.  They're not  
really ready for release yet, I don't think.

Thanks,
      Steve

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