building extensions for Windows Python

[olsongt at verizon.net]

JW wrote:
>
> My main problem is that I don't really grasp the big picture.  Can someone
> give me an overview of the requirements to build extensions for Windows
> Python, circa 2.5?  Or, can I tell my employer she'll just have to
> hire/contract a Windows expert to do the mud wrestling?
>
> Jim Wilson
> Gainesville, FL

To build an extension that runs on a generic python 2.5 you need a
Windows OS (suprise!) and VS.NET 2003.  Some people may have had some
success with MinGW32 (on windows) but it's not going to work
'out-of-the-box'.

If your code is straightforward crossplatform C, you could setup a
distutils configuration script and pass it off to someone else to build
the windows binaries, but chances are some debugging will have to be
done.