[Python-Dev] Moving Python 3.5 on Windows to a new compiler (original) (raw)

Sturla Molden sturla.molden at gmail.com
Sat Jun 7 03:35:40 CEST 2014

Brian Curtin <brian at python.org> wrote:

If Python 2.7 users are left with a dead compiler on Windows, they will find a solution. For example, Enthought is already bundling their Python distribution with gcc 2.8.1 on Windows. Again, not something I think we should depend on. A lot of people use python.org installers.

I am not talking about changing the python.org installers. Let it remain on VS2008 for Python 2.7. I am only suggesting we make it easier to find a free C compiler compatible with the python.org installers.

The NumPy/SciPy dev team have taken the burden to build a MinGW toolchain that is configured to be 100 % ABI compatible with the python.org installer. I am only suggesting a link to it or something like that, perhaps even host it as a separate download. (It is GPL, so anyone can do that.) That way it would be easy to find a compatible C compiler. We have to consider that VS2008 will be unobtainable abandonware long before the promised Python 2.7 support expires. When that happens, users of Python 2.7 will need to find another compiler to build C extensions. If Python.org makes this easier it would hurt less to have Python 2.7 remain on VS2008 forever.

Sturla

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