[Python-Dev] use cases for "python-config" versus "pkg-config python"

[Michael Haubenwallner]

Hello!

Stumbling over problems on AIX (Modules/python.exp not found) building libxml2 as python module
let me wonder about the intended use-cases for 'python-config' and 'pkg-config python'.

FWIW, I can see these distinct use cases here, and I'm kindly asking if I got them right:

* Build an application containing a python interpreter (like python$EXE itself):
  + link against libpython.so
  + re-export symbols from libpython.so for python-modules (platform-specific)
  + This is similar to build against any other library, thus
  = 'python.pc' is installed (for 'pkg-config python').

* Build a python-module (like build/lib.<platform>-<pyver>/*.so):
  + no need to link against libpython.so, instead
  + expect symbols from libpython.so to be available at runtime, platform-specific either as
  + undefined symbols at build-time (Linux, others), or
  + a list of symbols to import from "the main executable" (AIX)
  + This is specific to python-modules, thus
  = 'python-config' is installed.

Thank you!
/haubi/