pygame and python 2.5

[John Nagle]

Ben Sizer wrote:
>  The problem is something like this:
>  - Python extensions written in C require recompilation for each new
> version of Python, due to Python limitations.
>  - Recompiling such an extension requires you to have a C compiler set
> up on your local machine.
>  - Windows doesn't come with a C compiler, so you have to download
> one.
>  - The compiler that Python expects you to use (Visual Studio 2003) is
> no longer legally available.
>  - The other compiler that you can use (MinGW) is requires a slightly
> convoluted set of steps in order to build an extension.
> 
> Hopefully in the future, some of those convoluted steps will be fixed,
> but that requires someone putting in the effort to do so. As is often
> the case with Python, and indeed many open source projects, the people
> who are knowledgeable enough to do such things usually don't need to
> do them, as their setup already works just fine.

    True.  There really should be no need to recompile a C extension unless
the linkage format of the C compiler changes, which is a very rare event.
Binary compatibility needs to be improved.

    In the GCC world, any compiler since 3.2 should generate interchangeable
output.

	http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Compatibility.html

    In the Windows world, I'm not sure about compatibility across the
VC6/.NET transition, but I think you only need one version for either
side of that one.

					John Nagle