RE: [xml] python bindings on windows

["Stéphane Bidoul" <stephane bidoul softwareag com>]

> 1. Tell me what should I use as a default value for ROOT in setup.py

I would say no particular default. If you write

ROOT = r'@prefix@'

in setup.py.in, it can be replaced by the 
buildPrefix variable of configure.js.

The only potential problem I see is that a setup.py with only one 
ROOT variable assumes a specific directory structure:

ROOT/bin
ROOT/include/libxslt
ROOT/include/libxml2/libxml
ROOT/lib

Such a structure is the default on Unix, but
not the default for configure.js (a slight
difference in incdir). 

Personally, I can live with such a predefined structure,
and it's currently not configurable in setup.py.in
anyway. To support arbitrary directory structures, we would 
need more variables (also on unix): @includedir@, @libdir@,
@exec_prefix  

> 2. Get the blessing from the Unix folk for the changes in 
> setup.py.in. The
> diff between your setup.py and the current setup.py.in is attached.

I've not been around here for long... what's
the usual procedure to obtain such a blessing? :-)

I'm quite confident that the new script does not change
the Unix behaviour. Of course that would need a quick test.
I can do a test with cygwin, which would be quite close,
but I have no Unix box readily available. 

Now, if we wish to support additional configurability, we
need to add @includedir@ and @libdir@ in setup.py.in.
(currently it assumes that the includes are in predefined
locations like /usr/include, /usr/local/include, 
and that the libraries are in the linker search path).

Do you think it's useful to have such additional 
configurability for the build? On Windows? On Unix?

Otherwise, all we need is a little note 
(or a litte script, such as the one I posted earlier) 
that explains the arguments to give to configure.js 
so it supports the build of the python bindings.

-sbi