[Numpy-discussion] getting numPy happening for sciPy

[Robert Kern]

Steven H. Rogers wrote:
> Robert Kern wrote:
>> Steven H. Rogers wrote:
>>
>>> I don't know of any simple build instructions for Windows, but if you're 
>>> patient, there will probably be updated packaged releases of SciPy + 
>>> NumPy that play well together "real soon now". 
>>>     
>> We'll need a volunteer release manager for that, or it won't happen. Most of the
>> principals are very busy right now.
>>   
> I thought I saw signs that something would be happening soon. 

Real life got in the way.

> What 
> would be the scope of this release manager's responsibilities?

1) Make a numpy 1.0.3.1 point release. Some changes in 1.0.3-2 which should have
only made changes to the files included in the numpy source tarball also seem to
impair building scipy. We would need to branch from the 1.0.3 tag to fix this. I
don't think the changes to numpy.distutils in the trunk have been vetted enough
for making a numpy 1.0.4 release. Here is some information on the mechanics of this:

  http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/numpy/wiki/MakingReleases

2) Make a scipy 0.5.3 release. Deciding what goes in is mostly a matter of
announcing a cutoff date to make sure people don't have half of a refactoring in.

3) The release manager will need to make sure that the releases build and run
their test suite on at least the Big Three: Windows, some kind of Linux, and Mac
OS X. Usually, they will need to delegate for some of these platforms. The
binary builds for Windows should be provided for download along with the source.

4) Binaries: Windows binaries are pretty much necessary. If possible, try to use
an ATLAS library that does *not* use SSE2 instructions. We have had problems
with people getting segfaults on older hardware. scipy binaries should *not*
include FFTW or UMFPACK since they are GPLed. I can help with OS X binaries now
that I've finally figured out how to get scipy to link statically against the
gfortran runtime.

5) The tarballs and binaries should be uploaded to the Sourceforge site. The
Cheeseshop records should be updated to record the new versions. An announcement
should be made to python-announce and the relevant mailing lists.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
 that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
 an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco