Python, VC++, and Mingw32

[Tim Peters]

[Hookflash]
> Doesn't it seem strange that Python, a free *open source* project,
> doesn't officially support any of the free win32 compilers?

Not to me.  Most "free open source projects" (FOSPs) don't run on Windows at
all!  Count your blessings <wink>.

Beyond that, it's exactly as strange as that nobody using the free Win32
compilers has thought it worth their time to contribute patches to make it
possible for others to do so.  It's not like there's a policy against other
compilers; what you get, in a FOSP, is what others have contributed.

The majority of Python developers who use Windows use the OS *as* Windows,
not as a Unix(tm) clone, and you really can't beat the MS compiler for ease
of development on Windows as Windows.  That's all there is to why "one of
us" hasn't done this.

> For example, the source doesn't come with gnu makefiles that'll work
> under win32 (using Mingw32 or Cygwin), ...

Heck, it doesn't even come with makefiles that work with Microsoft's
compiler!  It ships with MS project files instead, as the Python developers
actually use the MS IDE to build Python.  The fact that the existing GNU
makefiles don't work under Win32 is just more evidence that other FOSPs
(like GNU Make) don't care much about running on Windows except in
Unix-clone mode.  Fighting the native OS just isn't worth the hassle for
pragmatists.

likes-grep-better-than-findstr-but-99%-of-the-time-they-both-
    get-the-job-done-ly y'rs  - tim