[Python-Dev] Compiler for the Mac OS X version of Python 3.4

[Russell E. Owen]

In article <B3293155-E4D5-4389-A555-C31BC49CE539 at gmail.com>,
 Raymond Hettinger <raymond.hettinger at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sep 14, 2013, at 1:32 PM, Ned Deily <nad at acm.org> wrote:
> >  The 
> > most recent Developer Tools for 10.8 and 10.7 systems, Xcode 4.6.x, have 
> > a mature clang but do not provide a 10.6 SDK.  Even with using an SDK, 
> > it's still possible to end up inadvertently linking with the wrong 
> > versions of system libraries.  We have been burned by that in the past.
> 
> I think we should offer a separate Mac build just for 10.6
> (much like we do for the 32-bit PPC option for 10.5).

If Apple drops support for gcc in 10.9 I guess we have to go this route, 
but please be careful. Every time you add a new version of python for 
MacOS X it means that folks providing binary installers (e.g. for numpy) 
have to provide another binary, and folks using those installers have 
another chance of picking the wrong one.

If you do make a 10.6-only installer, what is the minimum version of 
MacOS X the modern compiler would support? 10.7 gives a more measured 
upgrade path, but 10.8 gives a better compiler.

-- Russell