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<LI><A href="tweak-flags.html#SECTION000610000000000000000">6.1 Tweaking compiler/linker flags</a>
<LI><A href="tweak-flags.html#SECTION000620000000000000000">6.2 Using non-Microsoft compilers on Windows</a>
<UL>
<LI><A href="tweak-flags.html#SECTION000621000000000000000">6.2.1 Borland C++</a>
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<H1><A NAME="SECTION000600000000000000000"></A>
<A NAME="building-ext"></A>
<BR>
6 Building Extensions: Tips and Tricks
</H1>

<P>
Whenever possible, the Distutils try to use the configuration
information made available by the Python interpreter used to run the
<span class="file">setup.py</span> script.  For example, the same compiler and linker
flags used to compile Python will also be used for compiling
extensions.  Usually this will work well, but in complicated
situations this might be inappropriate.  This section discusses how to
override the usual Distutils behaviour.

<P>

<H2><A NAME="SECTION000610000000000000000"></A>
<A NAME="tweak-flags"></A>
<BR>
6.1 Tweaking compiler/linker flags
</H2>

<P>
Compiling a Python extension written in C or C++ will sometimes
require specifying custom flags for the compiler and linker in order
to use a particular library or produce a special kind of object code.
This is especially true if the extension hasn't been tested on your 
platform, or if you're trying to cross-compile Python.

<P>
In the most general case, the extension author might have foreseen
that compiling the extensions would be complicated, and provided a
<span class="file">Setup</span> file for you to edit.  This will likely only be done if
the module distribution contains many separate extension modules, or
if they often require elaborate sets of compiler flags in order to work.

<P>
A <span class="file">Setup</span> file, if present, is parsed in order to get a list of
extensions to build.  Each line in a <span class="file">Setup</span> describes a single
module.  Lines have the following structure:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre><TT>
 <var>module</var> ... [<var>sourcefile</var> ...] [<var>cpparg</var> ...] [<var>library</var> ...]
 </TT></pre></div>

<P>
Let's examine each of the fields in turn.

<P>

<UL>
<LI><var>module</var> is the name of the extension module to be built,
      and should be a valid Python identifier.  You can't just change
      this in order to rename a module (edits to the source code would
      also be needed), so this should be left alone.

<P>
</LI>
<LI><var>sourcefile</var> is anything that's likely to be a source code
      file, at least judging by the filename.  Filenames ending in
      <span class="file">.c</span> are assumed to be written in C, filenames ending in
      <span class="file">.C</span>, <span class="file">.cc</span>, and <span class="file">.c++</span> are assumed to be
      C++, and filenames ending in <span class="file">.m</span> or <span class="file">.mm</span> are
      assumed to be in Objective C.

<P>
</LI>
<LI><var>cpparg</var> is an argument for the C preprocessor, 
      and is anything starting with <b class="programopt">-I</b>, <b class="programopt">-D</b>,
      <b class="programopt">-U</b> or <b class="programopt">-C</b>.

<P>
</LI>
<LI><var>library</var> is anything ending in <span class="file">.a</span> or beginning with
      <b class="programopt">-l</b> or <b class="programopt">-L</b>.
</LI>
</UL>

<P>
If a particular platform requires a special library on your platform,
you can add it by editing the <span class="file">Setup</span> file and running
<code>python setup.py build</code>.  For example, if the module defined by the line

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
foo foomodule.c
</pre></div>

<P>
must be linked with the math library <span class="file">libm.a</span> on your platform,
simply add <b class="programopt">-lm</b> to the line:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
foo foomodule.c -lm
</pre></div>

<P>
Arbitrary switches intended for the compiler or the linker can be
supplied with the <b class="programopt">-Xcompiler</b> <var>arg</var> and
<b class="programopt">-Xlinker</b> <var>arg</var> options:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
foo foomodule.c -Xcompiler -o32 -Xlinker -shared -lm
</pre></div>

<P>
The next option after <b class="programopt">-Xcompiler</b> and
<b class="programopt">-Xlinker</b> will be appended to the proper command line, so
in the above example the compiler will be passed the <b class="programopt">-o32</b>
option, and the linker will be passed <b class="programopt">-shared</b>.  If a
compiler option requires an argument, you'll have to supply multiple
<b class="programopt">-Xcompiler</b> options; for example, to pass <code>-x c++</code> the
<span class="file">Setup</span> file would have to contain
<code>-Xcompiler -x -Xcompiler c++</code>.

<P>
Compiler flags can also be supplied through setting the
<a class="envvar" id='l2h-7' xml:id='l2h-7'>CFLAGS</a> environment variable.  If set, the contents of
<a class="envvar" id='l2h-8' xml:id='l2h-8'>CFLAGS</a> will be added to the compiler flags specified in the 
<span class="file">Setup</span> file.

<P>

<H2><A NAME="SECTION000620000000000000000"></A><A NAME="non-ms-compilers"></A>
<BR>
6.2 Using non-Microsoft compilers on Windows 
</H2>

<P>

<H3><A NAME="SECTION000621000000000000000">
6.2.1 Borland C++</A>
</H3>

<P>
This subsection describes the necessary steps to use Distutils with the 
Borland C++ compiler version 5.5.

<P>
First you have to know that Borland's object file format (OMF) is
different from the format used by the Python version you can download
from the Python or ActiveState Web site.  (Python is built with
Microsoft Visual C++, which uses COFF as the object file format.)
For this reason you have to convert Python's library
<span class="file">python24.lib</span> into the Borland format.  You can do this as
follows:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
coff2omf python24.lib python24_bcpp.lib
</pre></div>

<P>
The <span class="file">coff2omf</span> program comes with the Borland compiler.  The file
<span class="file">python24.lib</span> is in the <span class="file">Libs</span> directory of your Python
installation.  If your extension uses other libraries (zlib,...) you
have to convert them too.

<P>
The converted files have to reside in the same directories as the
normal libraries.

<P>
How does Distutils manage to use these libraries with their changed
names?  If the extension needs a library (eg. <span class="file">foo</span>) Distutils
checks first if it finds a library with suffix <span class="file">_bcpp</span>
(eg. <span class="file">foo_bcpp.lib</span>) and then uses this library.  In the case it
doesn't find such a special library it uses the default name
(<span class="file">foo.lib</span>.)<A NAME="tex2html1"
  HREF="#foot489"><SUP>1</SUP></A>
<P>
To let Distutils compile your extension with Borland C++ you now have
to type:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
python setup.py build --compiler=bcpp
</pre></div>

<P>
If you want to use the Borland C++ compiler as the default, you
could specify this in your personal or system-wide configuration file
for Distutils (see section&nbsp;<A href="config-syntax.html#config-files">5</A>.)

<P>
<div class="seealso">
  <p class="heading">See Also:</p>

  <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
    <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.borland.com/bcppbuilder/freecompiler/"
        >C++Builder Compiler</a></em></dt>
    <dd>Information about the free C++ compiler from Borland,
     including links to the download pages.</dd>
  </dl>

<P>
<dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
    <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.cyberus.ca/~g_will/pyExtenDL.shtml"
        >Creating Python Extensions Using Borland's Free Compiler</a></em></dt>
    <dd>Document describing how to use Borland's free command-line C++
     compiler to build Python.</dd>
  </dl>
</div>

<P>

<H3><A NAME="SECTION000622000000000000000">
6.2.2 GNU C / Cygwin / MinGW</A>
</H3>

<P>
This section describes the necessary steps to use Distutils with the
GNU C/C++ compilers in their Cygwin and MinGW
distributions.<A NAME="tex2html2"
  HREF="#foot575"><SUP>2</SUP></A>For a Python interpreter that was built with Cygwin, everything should
work without any of these following steps.

<P>
These compilers require some special libraries.
This task is more complex than for Borland's C++, because there is no
program to convert the library.

<P>
First you have to create a list of symbols which the Python DLL exports.
(You can find a good program for this task at 
<a class="url" href="http://starship.python.net/crew/kernr/mingw32/Notes.html">http://starship.python.net/crew/kernr/mingw32/Notes.html</a>, see at 
PExports 0.42h there.)

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
pexports python24.dll &gt;python24.def
</pre></div>

<P>
Then you can create from these information an import library for gcc.

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
dlltool --dllname python24.dll --def python24.def --output-lib libpython24.a
</pre></div>

<P>
The resulting library has to be placed in the same directory as 
<span class="file">python24.lib</span>. (Should be the <span class="file">libs</span> directory under your
Python installation directory.)

<P>
If your extension uses other libraries (zlib,...) you might 
have to convert them too.
The converted files have to reside in the same directories as the normal
libraries do.

<P>
To let Distutils compile your extension with Cygwin you now have to type

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
python setup.py build --compiler=cygwin
</pre></div>

<P>
and for Cygwin in no-cygwin mode<A NAME="tex2html3"
  HREF="#foot576"><SUP>3</SUP></A> or for MinGW type:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
python setup.py build --compiler=mingw32
</pre></div>

<P>
If you want to use any of these options/compilers as default, you should
consider to write it in your personal or system-wide configuration file
for Distutils (see section&nbsp;<A href="config-syntax.html#config-files">5</A>.)

<P>
<div class="seealso">
  <p class="heading">See Also:</p>

  <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
    <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.zope.org/Members/als/tips/win32_mingw_modules"
        >Building Python modules on MS Windows platform with MinGW</a></em></dt>
    <dd>Information about building the required libraries for the MinGW
     environment.</dd>
  </dl>

<P>
<dl compact="compact" class="seeurl">
    <dt><a href="http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/ftp/win32-stuff/"
        class="url">http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/ftp/win32-stuff/</a></dt>
    <dd>Converted import libraries in Cygwin/MinGW and Borland format,
     and a script to create the registry entries needed for Distutils
     to locate the built Python.</dd>
  </dl>
</div>

<P>
<BR><HR><H4>Footnotes</H4>
<DL>
<DT><A NAME="foot489">...foo.lib.)</A><A
 href="tweak-flags.html#tex2html1"><SUP>1</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>This also means you could replace all
existing COFF-libraries with OMF-libraries of the same name.

</DD>
<DT><A NAME="foot575">...
distributions.</A><A
 href="tweak-flags.html#tex2html2"><SUP>2</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>Check
<a class="url" href="http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/">http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/</a> and
<a class="url" href="http://www.mingw.org/">http://www.mingw.org/</a> for more information

</DD>
<DT><A NAME="foot576">... mode</A><A
 href="tweak-flags.html#tex2html3"><SUP>3</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>Then you have no
POSIX emulation available, but you also don't need
<span class="file">cygwin1.dll</span>.

</DD>
</DL>
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	55	<LI><A href="tweak-flags.html#SECTION000610000000000000000">6.1 Tweaking compiler/linker flags</a>
	56	<LI><A href="tweak-flags.html#SECTION000620000000000000000">6.2 Using non-Microsoft compilers on Windows</a>
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	64
65	<H1><A NAME="SECTION000600000000000000000"></A>
66	<A NAME="building-ext"></A>
67	<BR>
68	6 Building Extensions: Tips and Tricks
69	</H1>
70
71	<P>
72	Whenever possible, the Distutils try to use the configuration
73	information made available by the Python interpreter used to run the
74	<span class="file">setup.py</span> script. For example, the same compiler and linker
75	flags used to compile Python will also be used for compiling
76	extensions. Usually this will work well, but in complicated
77	situations this might be inappropriate. This section discusses how to
78	override the usual Distutils behaviour.
79
80	<P>
81
82	<H2><A NAME="SECTION000610000000000000000"></A>
83	<A NAME="tweak-flags"></A>
84	<BR>
85	6.1 Tweaking compiler/linker flags
86	</H2>
87
88	<P>
89	Compiling a Python extension written in C or C++ will sometimes
90	require specifying custom flags for the compiler and linker in order
91	to use a particular library or produce a special kind of object code.
92	This is especially true if the extension hasn't been tested on your
93	platform, or if you're trying to cross-compile Python.
94
95	<P>
96	In the most general case, the extension author might have foreseen
97	that compiling the extensions would be complicated, and provided a
98	<span class="file">Setup</span> file for you to edit. This will likely only be done if
99	the module distribution contains many separate extension modules, or
100	if they often require elaborate sets of compiler flags in order to work.
101
102	<P>
103	A <span class="file">Setup</span> file, if present, is parsed in order to get a list of
104	extensions to build. Each line in a <span class="file">Setup</span> describes a single
105	module. Lines have the following structure:
106
107	<P>
108	<div class="verbatim"><pre><TT>
109	<var>module</var> ... [<var>sourcefile</var> ...] [<var>cpparg</var> ...] [<var>library</var> ...]
110	</TT></pre></div>
111
112	<P>
113	Let's examine each of the fields in turn.
114
115	<P>
116
117	<UL>
118	<LI><var>module</var> is the name of the extension module to be built,
119	and should be a valid Python identifier. You can't just change
120	this in order to rename a module (edits to the source code would
121	also be needed), so this should be left alone.
122
123	<P>
124	</LI>
125	<LI><var>sourcefile</var> is anything that's likely to be a source code
126	file, at least judging by the filename. Filenames ending in
127	<span class="file">.c</span> are assumed to be written in C, filenames ending in
128	<span class="file">.C</span>, <span class="file">.cc</span>, and <span class="file">.c++</span> are assumed to be
129	C++, and filenames ending in <span class="file">.m</span> or <span class="file">.mm</span> are
130	assumed to be in Objective C.
131
132	<P>
133	</LI>
134	<LI><var>cpparg</var> is an argument for the C preprocessor,
135	and is anything starting with <b class="programopt">-I</b>, <b class="programopt">-D</b>,
136	<b class="programopt">-U</b> or <b class="programopt">-C</b>.
137
138	<P>
139	</LI>
140	<LI><var>library</var> is anything ending in <span class="file">.a</span> or beginning with
141	<b class="programopt">-l</b> or <b class="programopt">-L</b>.
142	</LI>
143	</UL>
144
145	<P>
146	If a particular platform requires a special library on your platform,
147	you can add it by editing the <span class="file">Setup</span> file and running
148	<code>python setup.py build</code>. For example, if the module defined by the line
149
150	<P>
151	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
152	foo foomodule.c
153	</pre></div>
154
155	<P>
156	must be linked with the math library <span class="file">libm.a</span> on your platform,
157	simply add <b class="programopt">-lm</b> to the line:
158
159	<P>
160	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
161	foo foomodule.c -lm
162	</pre></div>
163
164	<P>
165	Arbitrary switches intended for the compiler or the linker can be
166	supplied with the <b class="programopt">-Xcompiler</b> <var>arg</var> and
167	<b class="programopt">-Xlinker</b> <var>arg</var> options:
168
169	<P>
170	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
171	foo foomodule.c -Xcompiler -o32 -Xlinker -shared -lm
172	</pre></div>
173
174	<P>
175	The next option after <b class="programopt">-Xcompiler</b> and
176	<b class="programopt">-Xlinker</b> will be appended to the proper command line, so
177	in the above example the compiler will be passed the <b class="programopt">-o32</b>
178	option, and the linker will be passed <b class="programopt">-shared</b>. If a
179	compiler option requires an argument, you'll have to supply multiple
180	<b class="programopt">-Xcompiler</b> options; for example, to pass <code>-x c++</code> the
181	<span class="file">Setup</span> file would have to contain
182	<code>-Xcompiler -x -Xcompiler c++</code>.
183
184	<P>
185	Compiler flags can also be supplied through setting the
186	<a class="envvar" id='l2h-7' xml:id='l2h-7'>CFLAGS</a> environment variable. If set, the contents of
187	<a class="envvar" id='l2h-8' xml:id='l2h-8'>CFLAGS</a> will be added to the compiler flags specified in the
188	<span class="file">Setup</span> file.
189
190	<P>
191
192	<H2><A NAME="SECTION000620000000000000000"></A><A NAME="non-ms-compilers"></A>
193	<BR>
194	6.2 Using non-Microsoft compilers on Windows
195	</H2>
196
197	<P>
198
199	<H3><A NAME="SECTION000621000000000000000">
200	6.2.1 Borland C++</A>
201	</H3>
202
203	<P>
204	This subsection describes the necessary steps to use Distutils with the
205	Borland C++ compiler version 5.5.
206
207	<P>
208	First you have to know that Borland's object file format (OMF) is
209	different from the format used by the Python version you can download
210	from the Python or ActiveState Web site. (Python is built with
211	Microsoft Visual C++, which uses COFF as the object file format.)
212	For this reason you have to convert Python's library
213	<span class="file">python24.lib</span> into the Borland format. You can do this as
214	follows:
215
216	<P>
217	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
218	coff2omf python24.lib python24_bcpp.lib
219	</pre></div>
220
221	<P>
222	The <span class="file">coff2omf</span> program comes with the Borland compiler. The file
223	<span class="file">python24.lib</span> is in the <span class="file">Libs</span> directory of your Python
224	installation. If your extension uses other libraries (zlib,...) you
225	have to convert them too.
226
227	<P>
228	The converted files have to reside in the same directories as the
229	normal libraries.
230
231	<P>
232	How does Distutils manage to use these libraries with their changed
233	names? If the extension needs a library (eg. <span class="file">foo</span>) Distutils
234	checks first if it finds a library with suffix <span class="file">_bcpp</span>
235	(eg. <span class="file">foo_bcpp.lib</span>) and then uses this library. In the case it
236	doesn't find such a special library it uses the default name
237	(<span class="file">foo.lib</span>.)<A NAME="tex2html1"
238	HREF="#foot489"><SUP>1</SUP></A>
239	<P>
240	To let Distutils compile your extension with Borland C++ you now have
241	to type:
242
243	<P>
244	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
245	python setup.py build --compiler=bcpp
246	</pre></div>
247
248	<P>
249	If you want to use the Borland C++ compiler as the default, you
250	could specify this in your personal or system-wide configuration file
251	for Distutils (see section <A href="config-syntax.html#config-files">5</A>.)
252
253	<P>
254	<div class="seealso">
255	<p class="heading">See Also:</p>
256
257	<dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
258	<dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.borland.com/bcppbuilder/freecompiler/"
259	>C++Builder Compiler</a></em></dt>
260	<dd>Information about the free C++ compiler from Borland,
261	including links to the download pages.</dd>
262	</dl>
263
264	<P>
265	<dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
266	<dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.cyberus.ca/~g_will/pyExtenDL.shtml"
267	>Creating Python Extensions Using Borland's Free Compiler</a></em></dt>
268	<dd>Document describing how to use Borland's free command-line C++
269	compiler to build Python.</dd>
270	</dl>
271	</div>
272
273	<P>
274
275	<H3><A NAME="SECTION000622000000000000000">
276	6.2.2 GNU C / Cygwin / MinGW</A>
277	</H3>
278
279	<P>
280	This section describes the necessary steps to use Distutils with the
281	GNU C/C++ compilers in their Cygwin and MinGW
282	distributions.<A NAME="tex2html2"
283	HREF="#foot575"><SUP>2</SUP></A>For a Python interpreter that was built with Cygwin, everything should
284	work without any of these following steps.
285
286	<P>
287	These compilers require some special libraries.
288	This task is more complex than for Borland's C++, because there is no
289	program to convert the library.
290
291	<P>
292	First you have to create a list of symbols which the Python DLL exports.
293	(You can find a good program for this task at
294	<a class="url" href="http://starship.python.net/crew/kernr/mingw32/Notes.html">http://starship.python.net/crew/kernr/mingw32/Notes.html</a>, see at
295	PExports 0.42h there.)
296
297	<P>
298	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
299	pexports python24.dll >python24.def
300	</pre></div>
301
302	<P>
303	Then you can create from these information an import library for gcc.
304
305	<P>
306	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
307	dlltool --dllname python24.dll --def python24.def --output-lib libpython24.a
308	</pre></div>
309
310	<P>
311	The resulting library has to be placed in the same directory as
312	<span class="file">python24.lib</span>. (Should be the <span class="file">libs</span> directory under your
313	Python installation directory.)
314
315	<P>
316	If your extension uses other libraries (zlib,...) you might
317	have to convert them too.
318	The converted files have to reside in the same directories as the normal
319	libraries do.
320
321	<P>
322	To let Distutils compile your extension with Cygwin you now have to type
323
324	<P>
325	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
326	python setup.py build --compiler=cygwin
327	</pre></div>
328
329	<P>
330	and for Cygwin in no-cygwin mode<A NAME="tex2html3"
331	HREF="#foot576"><SUP>3</SUP></A> or for MinGW type:
332
333	<P>
334	<div class="verbatim"><pre>
335	python setup.py build --compiler=mingw32
336	</pre></div>
337
338	<P>
339	If you want to use any of these options/compilers as default, you should
340	consider to write it in your personal or system-wide configuration file
341	for Distutils (see section <A href="config-syntax.html#config-files">5</A>.)
342
343	<P>
344	<div class="seealso">
345	<p class="heading">See Also:</p>
346
347	<dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
348	<dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.zope.org/Members/als/tips/win32_mingw_modules"
349	>Building Python modules on MS Windows platform with MinGW</a></em></dt>
350	<dd>Information about building the required libraries for the MinGW
351	environment.</dd>
352	</dl>
353
354	<P>
355	<dl compact="compact" class="seeurl">
356	<dt><a href="http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/ftp/win32-stuff/"
357	class="url">http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/ftp/win32-stuff/</a></dt>
358	<dd>Converted import libraries in Cygwin/MinGW and Borland format,
359	and a script to create the registry entries needed for Distutils
360	to locate the built Python.</dd>
361	</dl>
362	</div>
363
364	<P>
365	<BR><HR><H4>Footnotes</H4>
366	<DL>
367	<DT><A NAME="foot489">...foo.lib.)</A><A
368	href="tweak-flags.html#tex2html1"><SUP>1</SUP></A></DT>
369	<DD>This also means you could replace all
370	existing COFF-libraries with OMF-libraries of the same name.
371
372	</DD>
373	<DT><A NAME="foot575">...
374	distributions.</A><A
375	href="tweak-flags.html#tex2html2"><SUP>2</SUP></A></DT>
376	<DD>Check
377	<a class="url" href="http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/">http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/</a> and
378	<a class="url" href="http://www.mingw.org/">http://www.mingw.org/</a> for more information
379
380	</DD>
381	<DT><A NAME="foot576">... mode</A><A
382	href="tweak-flags.html#tex2html3"><SUP>3</SUP></A></DT>
383	<DD>Then you have no
384	POSIX emulation available, but you also don't need
385	<span class="file">cygwin1.dll</span>.
386
387	</DD>
388	</DL>
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