building extensions with gcc and python 2.2

[David Abrahams]

Ken Seehof <kseehof at neuralintegrator.com> writes:

> I'm developing a tool that involves dynamic compilation of python extensions.
> Since I do not want to require my windows users to buy MSVC, I can no
> longer use it build my extensions (i.e. the user needs to be able to
> recompile).
> 
> Therefore, I am experimenting with using gcc as my compiler.
> 
> Should I use Cygwin or Mingw?

MinGW produces code that can be commercially redistributed, so it's a
better replaceement for MSVC if you care about that. It's very odd
about its interpretation of __declspec(dllexport) in some cases,
though, so if that matters to you, you might consider Cygwin. Cygwin
uses the Unix model of exporting all symbols by default, so you won't
have to worry about that. MinGW-2.0 is now using gcc-3.2, which is a
very conformant C++ compiler. I don't know if you get that
automatically with a Cygwin download, though you could certainly build
one (as I have done) if you're willing to wait a few hours for it to
complete.

the-choice-is-yours-ly,
-- 
           David Abrahams * Boost Consulting
dave at boost-consulting.com * http://www.boost-consulting.com