updated version of David Ascher's compile.py?

[Alex Martelli]

I've just tried installing ActiveState's distribution of
Python 1.6 for Windows, and it seems to be fine (except
for funny things, such as 'unicode' not being found by a
search in the docs although unicode function _is_ correctly
documented among the builtins -- go figure!), but I'm
having problems trying to build C extensions with VC++6.

I _think_ it's the compile.py version I have, originally
downloaded from:
http://starship.python.net/crew/skippy/ppw32/index.html

It doesn't clearly state which version it is, nor its
date, but the first (latest) line in 'Release History'
is '0.21 [Mar 10, 1998]'.  When I try to open either
the .DSP or .DSW from VC++6, the latter crashes during
the attempt to convert the format from VC++5 to 6.  I
know Ascher announced in 1999 an updated version (with
a specific mention of VC++6), but I cannot access his
starship homepage -- it seems to have been moved to
port 9673, I even armtwisted our sysadm to open that
port on our firewall for http traffic, but, no go;
even trying to access it from a machine outside the
firewall just won't connect.

I've looked all around the net for an accessible version
of the updated compile.py, but have not been able to
find one.  Any suggestions, hints, URLs, ... ?  Thanks!


Alex