How to install Python package from source on Windows

[Grant Edwards]

On 2017-05-16, Deborah Swanson <python at deborahswanson.net> wrote:

> Another reason why it's sad that Python hasn't been making its own build
> tools, or incorporating and developing open software tools all along.

Python uses almost exclusively open-source tools on Linux and whatever
MacOS is called this year.

Feel free to build and distribute a python distro for Windows that's
based on a free C compiler (MinGW is probably your best option).

> This is a tail that could easily end up wagging the dog, and soon. But
> likely there are stll many things I don't know or haven't fully
> understood from what I've learned today.

Windows users have nobody but theirselves to blame for their
dependence on Microsoft.  Whining about it to Linux users isn't going
to help much.

>> The alternative would be to use some other free compiler such as
>> MinGW as the standard compiler for Python and its extensions. But
>> this has been decided against on the grounds that it is better to
>> use the standard Windows tools to compile code for Windows, for the
>> same compatibility reasons as above, and that means Visual Studio.
>
> Well, apparently that was the choice. I for one think it's sad, and
> that it will lead to trouble for Python somewhere down the
> road. Probably the trouble will be in its capacity to be available
> on all platforms, and I think it's sad to have such binding ties
> with newer Windows. Time will tell, but I think Windows is a slowly
> sinking ship, not unlike the eventual fate of the behemoth IBM. It's
> the way of all things, and Microsoft is no more immune to natural
> processes than anything else is.

So Windows sinks and dies. Hooray!

Python will be fine.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! Why is everything made
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