RELEASED Python 2.4, alpha 1

[Mike C. Fletcher]

Martin v. Löwis wrote:

> Mike C. Fletcher wrote:
>
>> I don't see note of switch to Visual Studio .NET for Win32 builds, 
>> but somehow I'd thought that was planned for the 2.4 timeframe.  Did 
>> I get that wrong? 
>
>
> Actually, it is mentioned in the "What's new" document:
>
> http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/whatsnew/node9.html#SECTION000910000000000000000 
>

Well, no ;) :) .  What's mentioned there is that it *builds*, not that
the Python.org installer version *is built* with it, those are two
different issues, particularly for extension writers, as we target the
Python.org distributed version almost exclusively.  Whether it's
possible to build Python with a given compiler is an academic question
if people don't generally have compilers or compile things.

IMO it's not really a "minor" issue for Windows.  It means that (in the
interim) extension developers need to have both VS6 and VS.NET (2003)
installed to build for < 2.4 and >=2.4.  That's fine (after all, there's
a free VS.Net version compatible with the new Python IIRC), and I'm all
for it, but I'd actually consider it a fairly major new feature for a
platform where previously there's been no freely-available C/C++
compiler compatible with the current Python build.  (Well, save with
some serious hacking about).

Have fun,
Mike

________________________________________________
  Mike C. Fletcher
  Designer, VR Plumber, Coder
  http://members.rogers.com/mcfletch/
  blog: http://zope.vex.net/~mcfletch/plumbing/