Can Python-2.2 on Windows be Extended using the MingW C compiler?

[Chen]

"John Stevens" <john.stevens2 at hp.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93419595F8B27johnstevens2hpcom at 16.105.248.153...
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to write a cross platform program using Python.
>
> I've written an extension module in C that compiles and works on
> Linux, and want to try to compile it and use it on Windows.
>
> Does anybody know if you can take the standard Python Distribution
> for Windows, and extend it using a C module that was compiled using
> the free MingW C compiler?
>
> Failing that, does anybody have any instructions for compiling Python
> using the MingW compiler?
>
> Thanks,
> John S.

This site, http://sebsauvage.net/python/mingw.html, give a good tutorial of
how to make python modules with MingW.

The following is my note and experiment for it:

The library Python22.lib should be converted to binutils format
(libPython22.a) firstly. 'dlltool' performs this aproach, with the help of a
program called 'pexports'.

Cygwin is helpful. It includes MingW, w32api and many other useful things.
And it's easier to install and use than the stand-alone MingW packages.

The following sample program is compiled and linked to MingW, on cygwin:

//Compile commands:
//gcc hellomodule.c -c -mno-cygwin -Id:/Python22/include
//gcc -shared hellomodule.o hellomodule.def -o
hello.pyd -Ld:/python22/libs -lpython22  -mno-cygwin

//source file (hellomodule.c):
#include <Python.h>

static PyObject *sayhello(PyObject *self)
{
    return Py_BuildValue("s", "Hello, Python World!");
}

static PyMethodDef hellomethods[] = {
    {"say", sayhello, METH_VARARGS},
    {NULL, NULL}
};

DL_EXPORT(void) inithello(){
    printf("Hello\n");
    Py_InitModule("hello", hellomethods);
}

And a .def file is recommended.
//def file ( hellomodule.def ):
EXPORTS
  inithello


Chen