Re: [xml] python bindings on windows

[Igor Zlatkovic <igor stud fh-frankfurt de>]

> 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.

Okay, that is a good default. I'll still provide a special variable for 
that, because the Python ROOT could as well be different to the libxml 
prefix dir.

> 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). 

Yes, Unix had libxml 1.x once upon a time and it can coexist with libxml2 
today. Using different versions of the same library is however uncommon on 
Windows. Who knows? Perhaps I shold have followed the convention :-)

> 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  

Since you plan to use an exclusive library with the Pythin bindings, setting 
the incdir through configure.js for the build with Python would suffice, no?

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

Ah, there is no specific procedure. The blessing is implicit if noone 
objects. :-)

> 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. 

One person can hardly test this on all Unix incarnations libxml is being 
used on. Just let the people examine the diff and they will scream if they 
believe it would break something on their platform. If someone screams, then 
we'll find a way to satisfy all parties.

> 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?

I don't know, I don't use Python. I would say that it would be good, because 
many Unix users have $HOME/include, or similar, in the search path. This is 
almost always the case on the university computers. The administrators don't 
install every uncommon bit any student could need for the thesis in /usr or 
/usr/local.

> 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.

Okay, I'll post that as soon as I make the required modifications to 
configure.js.

Ciao
Igor