How to install Python package from source on Windows

[Terry Reedy]

On 5/16/2017 5:14 PM, bartc wrote:
> On 16/05/2017 21:18, breamoreboy at gmail.com wrote:
>> On Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 5:09:34 PM UTC+1, bartc wrote:
> 
>>> I can't test with Python because it's too complicated to compile,
>>> especially on Windows.
> 
>> What is the problem with the documentation given here 
>> https://docs.python.org/devguide ?
>>
>> Specifically:-
>>
>> "and on Windows use:
>>
>> PCbuild\build.bat -e -d"
> 
> Everything?
> 
> That PCbuild line is step 3 of Quick Start. You have to get past steps 1 
> and 2 first. It talks about something called Git; I don't know what that 
> is or what I'm supposed to do with it, but it's a 35MB download. (Not 
> that that is very big these days, but 35MB (compressed size and there 
> may be more to come) suggests complexity that I don't want to get into.)

If you merely want to download and compile, you only need about 2 git 
commands: 'clone' and the fetch-merge command.  The devguide intros may 
be enough.  Creating patches is much more complex.

> The Windows-specific link says I need to use MS VS2015. That's a BIG 
> application (I believe in the 1000s MB range for downloading) and my 

Yes, one must download the Visual Studio Community Edition, 6-9 
gigabytes.  I had to install it on my terabyte auxiliary hard drive, 
along with games, instead of my 72 gb SDD C: drive.

But once done, build.bat directly invokes the embedded C++ compiler. 
Before it was added, one had to boot up Visual Studio (1/2 minute or 
more) with the Python project files and hit the correct key.  The .bat 
file is *much* easier.  I have it embedded in my own pull.bat that first 
pulls updates and merges them into the local repository.

> track record with this stuff suggests that I will go to all this 
> trouble, spend a considerable amount of time, and then it'll fail at 
> some point and I won't have a clue why not.
> 
> So when I said it was too complicated to compile, I meant exactly that.
> 
> By contrast, the program I tested in place of CPython, builds 
> effortlessly with compilers in the 0.2MB size range, one of which is 
> Tiny C.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy