Which compiler will Python 2.5 / Windows (Intel) be built with?

[meyer at mesw.de]

Hi Scott,

thanks for keeping up the friendly discussion. Comments below.

Scott David Daniels wrote:
> The disruption in Python 2.4 in switching from one compiler (VC6) to
> another VS2003 was not insubstantial.  By sticking with VS2003, sometime
> users can at least use the same tool for Python 2.4 and Python 2.5.  It
> does seem inevitable we will have to switch for 2.6.  We are very far
> along in the process of releasing Python 2.5 (beta1 is due out soon),
> and rebuilding and testing with a new translation system is too big a
> change at this point.

I understand that you are far in the release cycle and that this change
would maybe even delay the whole release process. Those are good
points. OTOH I think that sometimes it's better to change decisions in
light of new facts. Of course I don't know exactly when this decision
was fixed, but I guess since then Microsoft has created two new facts
that cannot be ignored:

* It wasn't clear that Microsoft would stop distributing the free 2003
toolkit in favor of the 2005 toolkit. I cannot remember that they did
something like this in the past, so this is something that came as a
surprise.

* At least to me it wasn't clear that Microsoft would release a new
version of Visual Studio so early, and that it would link to a new,
incompatible C runtime.

One can like or not like Microsoft politics, but I think in case of
those new and surprising facts a re-evaluation of the decision for
compiling Python with VS2003 might very well be justified.

> Note there was strong resistance to leaving VC6 for Python 2.4.  That
> resistance was overcome only by the fact that it was no longer possible
> to purchase suitable versions of VC6.

I'm not sure how that backs the point you made. Infact, you're saying
that people accepted that Python 2.4 was compiled with VS2003 because
VC6 could not longer be bought. How is that different from the current
situation where the VS2003 toolkit cannot longer be downloaded and it
is at least becoming increasingly difficult to buy versions of VS2003?
You also seem to imply that there is a large group of people that want
you to stay with VS2003 for compiling Python 2.5. Of course I have no
actual figures, but at least in this thread it seems to me that every
single person who wrote in this thread until now was pro-2005 and
against-2003.


Markus