gpp (conditional compilation)

[maxwell@ldc.upenn.edu]

I'm trying to use the gpp utility (Gnu points to http://en.nothingisreal.com/wiki/GPP)
to do conditional compilation in Python, and I'm running into a
problem: the same '#' character introduces Python comments and is used
by default to introduce #ifdef etc. lines.

Here's an example of what I'm trying to do:

#ifdef DEBUG
       stderr.write("variable is...") #details of msg omitted
#endif

I'm using the following args to gpp:
   +s \" \" \" +s \' \' \'  +c \\\# \\n -n
The result is that the #ifdef and #endif lines get treated as
comments, rather than instructions to gpp to keep or omit the lines in
between.

I tried just omitting the +c arg, but then I get msgs at the end of
each file saying
  Input ended while scanning a comment/string
apparently because I use apostrophes inside comments, and gpp thinks
those are unterminated strings.

I can think of some work-arounds, like "don't use apostrophes inside
comments", or "don't use single-quoted strings (or define them for
gpp)" or "use a different char for the first char of a gpp macro".
But I'd rather not...

Does anyone have a set of gpp args that plays well with Python?  (Or
makefiles, where I presume the same problem comes up.)

   Mike Maxwell
   CASL/ U MD