Building Python using VC++ 7.1
-------------------------------------
This directory is used to build Python for Win32 platforms, e.g. Windows
95, 98 and NT. It requires Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1
(a.k.a. Visual Studio .NET 2003).
(For other Windows platforms and compilers, see ../PC/readme.txt.)
All you need to do is open the workspace "pcbuild.sln" in MSVC++, select
the Debug or Release setting (using "Solution Configuration" from
the "Standard" toolbar"), and build the projects.
The proper order to build subprojects:
1) pythoncore (this builds the main Python DLL and library files,
python26.{dll, lib} in Release mode)
NOTE: in previous releases, this subproject was
named after the release number, e.g. python20.
2) python (this builds the main Python executable,
python.exe in Release mode)
3) the other subprojects, as desired or needed (note: you probably don't
want to build most of the other subprojects, unless you're building an
entire Python distribution from scratch, or specifically making changes
to the subsystems they implement, or are running a Python core buildbot
test slave; see SUBPROJECTS below)
When using the Debug setting, the output files have a _d added to
their name: python26_d.dll, python_d.exe, parser_d.pyd, and so on.
SUBPROJECTS
-----------
These subprojects should build out of the box. Subprojects other than the
main ones (pythoncore, python, pythonw) generally build a DLL (renamed to
.pyd) from a specific module so that users don't have to load the code
supporting that module unless they import the module.
pythoncore
.dll and .lib
python
.exe
pythonw
pythonw.exe, a variant of python.exe that doesn't pop up a DOS box
_socket
socketmodule.c
_testcapi
tests of the Python C API, run via Lib/test/test_capi.py, and
implemented by module Modules/_testcapimodule.c
pyexpat
Python wrapper for accelerated XML parsing, which incorporates stable
code from the Expat project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/expat/
select
selectmodule.c
unicodedata
large tables of Unicode data
winsound
play sounds (typically .wav files) under Windows
The following subprojects will generally NOT build out of the box. They
wrap code Python doesn't control, and you'll need to download the base
packages first and unpack them into siblings of PCbuilds's parent
directory; for example, if your PCbuild is .......\dist\src\PCbuild\,
unpack into new subdirectories of dist\.
_tkinter
Python wrapper for the Tk windowing system. Requires building
Tcl/Tk first. Following are instructions for Tcl/Tk 8.4.12.
Get source
----------
In the dist directory, run
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/tcl8.4.12
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/tk8.4.12
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/tix-8.4.0
Build Tcl first (done here w/ MSVC 7.1 on Windows XP)
---------------
Use "Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
-> Visual Studio .NET Tools -> Visual Studio .NET 2003 Command Prompt"
to get a shell window with the correct environment settings
cd dist\tcl8.4.12\win
nmake -f makefile.vc
nmake -f makefile.vc INSTALLDIR=..\..\tcltk install
XXX Should we compile with OPTS=threads?
Optional: run tests, via
nmake -f makefile.vc test
On WinXP Pro, wholly up to date as of 30-Aug-2004:
all.tcl: Total 10678 Passed 9969 Skipped 709 Failed 0
Sourced 129 Test Files.
Build Tk
--------
cd dist\tk8.4.12\win
nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=..\..\tcl8.4.12
nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=..\..\tcl8.4.12 INSTALLDIR=..\..\tcltk install
XXX Should we compile with OPTS=threads?
XXX Our installer copies a lot of stuff out of the Tcl/Tk install
XXX directory. Is all of that really needed for Python use of Tcl/Tk?
Optional: run tests, via
nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=..\..\tcl8.4.12 test
On WinXP Pro, wholly up to date as of 30-Aug-2004:
all.tcl: Total 8420 Passed 6826 Skipped 1581 Failed 13
Sourced 91 Test Files.
Files with failing tests: canvImg.test scrollbar.test textWind.test winWm.test
Built Tix
---------
cd dist\tix-8.4.0\win
nmake -f python.mak
nmake -f python.mak install
bz2
Python wrapper for the libbz2 compression library. Homepage
http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/
Download the source from the python.org copy into the dist
directory:
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/bzip2-1.0.3
A custom pre-link step in the bz2 project settings should manage to
build bzip2-1.0.3\libbz2.lib by magic before bz2.pyd (or bz2_d.pyd) is
linked in PCbuild\.
However, the bz2 project is not smart enough to remove anything under
bzip2-1.0.3\ when you do a clean, so if you want to rebuild bzip2.lib
you need to clean up bzip2-1.0.3\ by hand.
The build step shouldn't yield any warnings or errors, and should end
by displaying 6 blocks each terminated with
FC: no differences encountered
All of this managed to build bzip2-1.0.3\libbz2.lib, which the Python
project links in.
_bsddb
To use the version of bsddb that Python is built with by default, invoke
(in the dist directory)
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/db-4.4.20
Then open a VS.NET 2003 shell, and invoke:
devenv db-4.4.20\build_win32\Berkeley_DB.sln /build Release /project db_static
and do that a second time for a Debug build too:
devenv db-4.4.20\build_win32\Berkeley_DB.sln /build Debug /project db_static
Alternatively, if you want to start with the original sources,
go to Sleepycat's download page:
http://www.sleepycat.com/downloads/releasehistorybdb.html
and download version 4.4.20.
With or without strong cryptography? You can choose either with or
without strong cryptography, as per the instructions below. By
default, Python is built and distributed WITHOUT strong crypto.
Unpack the sources; if you downloaded the non-crypto version, rename
the directory from db-4.4.20.NC to db-4.4.20.
Now apply any patches that apply to your version.
Open
dist\db-4.4.20\docs\index.html
and follow the "Windows->Building Berkeley DB with Visual C++ .NET"
instructions for building the Sleepycat
software. Note that Berkeley_DB.dsw is in the build_win32 subdirectory.
Build the "db_static" project, for "Release" mode.
To run extensive tests, pass "-u bsddb" to regrtest.py. test_bsddb3.py
is then enabled. Running in verbose mode may be helpful.
XXX The test_bsddb3 tests don't always pass, on Windows (according to
XXX me) or on Linux (according to Barry). (I had much better luck
XXX on Win2K than on Win98SE.) The common failure mode across platforms
XXX is
XXX DBAgainError: (11, 'Resource temporarily unavailable -- unable
XXX to join the environment')
XXX
XXX and it appears timing-dependent. On Win2K I also saw this once:
XXX
XXX test02_SimpleLocks (bsddb.test.test_thread.HashSimpleThreaded) ...
XXX Exception in thread reader 1:
XXX Traceback (most recent call last):
XXX File "C:\Code\python\lib\threading.py", line 411, in __bootstrap
XXX self.run()
XXX File "C:\Code\python\lib\threading.py", line 399, in run
XXX self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
XXX File "C:\Code\python\lib\bsddb\test\test_thread.py", line 268, in
XXX readerThread
XXX rec = c.next()
XXX DBLockDeadlockError: (-30996, 'DB_LOCK_DEADLOCK: Locker killed
XXX to resolve a deadlock')
XXX
XXX I'm told that DBLockDeadlockError is expected at times. It
XXX doesn't cause a test to fail when it happens (exceptions in
XXX threads are invisible to unittest).
Building for Win64:
- open a VS.NET 2003 command prompt
- run the SDK setenv.cmd script, passing /RETAIL and the target
architecture (/SRV64 for Itanium, /X64 for AMD64)
- build BerkeleyDB with the solution configuration matching the
target ("Release IA64" for Itanium, "Release AMD64" for AMD64), e.g.
devenv db-4.4.20\build_win32\Berkeley_DB.sln /build "Release AMD64" /project db_static /useenv
_sqlite3
Python wrapper for SQLite library.
Get the source code through
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/sqlite-source-3.3.4
To use the extension module in a Python build tree, copy sqlite3.dll into
the PCbuild folder.
_ssl
Python wrapper for the secure sockets library.
Get the source code through
svn export http://svn.python.org/projects/external/openssl-0.9.8a
Alternatively, get the latest version from http://www.openssl.org.
You can (theoretically) use any version of OpenSSL you like - the
build process will automatically select the latest version.
You must also install ActivePerl from
http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/
as this is used by the OpenSSL build process. Complain to them <wink>.
The MSVC project simply invokes PCBuild/build_ssl.py to perform
the build. This Python script locates and builds your OpenSSL
installation, then invokes a simple makefile to build the final .pyd.
build_ssl.py attempts to catch the most common errors (such as not
being able to find OpenSSL sources, or not being able to find a Perl
that works with OpenSSL) and give a reasonable error message.
If you have a problem that doesn't seem to be handled correctly
(eg, you know you have ActivePerl but we can't find it), please take
a peek at build_ssl.py and suggest patches. Note that build_ssl.py
should be able to be run directly from the command-line.
build_ssl.py/MSVC isn't clever enough to clean OpenSSL - you must do
this by hand.
Building for Itanium
--------------------
The project files support a ReleaseItanium configuration which creates
Win64/Itanium binaries. For this to work, you need to install the Platform
SDK, in particular the 64-bit support. This includes an Itanium compiler
(future releases of the SDK likely include an AMD64 compiler as well).
In addition, you need the Visual Studio plugin for external C compilers,
from http://sf.net/projects/vsextcomp. The plugin will wrap cl.exe, to
locate the proper target compiler, and convert compiler options
accordingly. The project files require atleast version 0.9.
Building for AMD64
------------------
The build process for the ReleaseAMD64 configuration is very similar
to the Itanium configuration; make sure you use the latest version of
vsextcomp.
Building Python Using the free MS Toolkit Compiler
--------------------------------------------------
The build process for Visual C++ can be used almost unchanged with the free MS
Toolkit Compiler. This provides a way of building Python using freely
available software.
Note that Microsoft have withdrawn the free MS Toolkit Compiler, so this can
no longer be considered a supported option. The instructions are still
correct, but you need to already have a copy of the compiler in order to use
them. Microsoft now supply Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition for free, but this
is NOT compatible with Visual C++ 7.1 (it uses a different C runtime), and so
cannot be used to build a version of Python compatible with the standard
python.org build. If you are interested in using Visual C++ 2005 Express
Edition, however, you should look at the PCBuild8 directory.
Requirements
To build Python, the following tools are required:
* The Visual C++ Toolkit Compiler
no longer available for download - see above
* A recent Platform SDK
from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=484269e2-3b89-47e3-8eb7-1f2be6d7123a
* The .NET 1.1 SDK
from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9b3a2ca6-3647-4070-9f41-a333c6b9181d
[Does anyone have better URLs for the last 2 of these?]
The toolkit compiler is needed as it is an optimising compiler (the
compiler supplied with the .NET SDK is a non-optimising version). The
platform SDK is needed to provide the Windows header files and libraries
(the Windows 2003 Server SP1 edition, typical install, is known to work -
other configurations or versions are probably fine as well). The .NET 1.1
SDK is needed because it contains a version of msvcrt.dll which links to
the msvcr71.dll CRT. Note that the .NET 2.0 SDK is NOT acceptable, as it
references msvcr80.dll.
All of the above items should be installed as normal.
If you intend to build the openssl (needed for the _ssl extension) you
will need the C runtime sources installed as part of the platform SDK.
In addition, you will need Nant, available from
http://nant.sourceforge.net. The 0.85 release candidate 3 version is known
to work. This is the latest released version at the time of writing. Later
"nightly build" versions are known NOT to work - it is not clear at
present whether future released versions will work.
Setting up the environment
Start a platform SDK "build environment window" from the start menu. The
"Windows XP 32-bit retail" version is known to work.
Add the following directories to your PATH:
* The toolkit compiler directory
* The SDK "Win64" binaries directory
* The Nant directory
Add to your INCLUDE environment variable:
* The toolkit compiler INCLUDE directory
Add to your LIB environment variable:
* The toolkit compiler LIB directory
* The .NET SDK Visual Studio 2003 VC7\lib directory
The following commands should set things up as you need them:
rem Set these values according to where you installed the software
set TOOLKIT=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003
set SDK=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK
set NET=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
set NANT=C:\Utils\Nant
set PATH=%TOOLKIT%\bin;%PATH%;%SDK%\Bin\win64;%NANT%\bin
set INCLUDE=%TOOLKIT%\include;%INCLUDE%
set LIB=%TOOLKIT%\lib;%NET%\VC7\lib;%LIB%
The "win64" directory from the SDK is added to supply executables such as
"cvtres" and "lib", which are not available elsewhere. The versions in the
"win64" directory are 32-bit programs, so they are fine to use here.
That's it. To build Python (the core only, no binary extensions which
depend on external libraries) you just need to issue the command
nant -buildfile:python.build all
from within the PCBuild directory.
Extension modules
To build those extension modules which require external libraries
(_tkinter, bz2, _bsddb, _sqlite3, _ssl) you can follow the instructions
for the Visual Studio build above, with a few minor modifications. These
instructions have only been tested using the sources in the Python
subversion repository - building from original sources should work, but
has not been tested.
For each extension module you wish to build, you should remove the
associated include line from the excludeprojects section of pc.build.
The changes required are:
_tkinter
The tix makefile (tix-8.4.0\win\makefile.vc) must be modified to
remove references to TOOLS32. The relevant lines should be changed to
read:
cc32 = cl.exe
link32 = link.exe
include32 =
The remainder of the build instructions will work as given.
bz2
No changes are needed
_bsddb
The file db.build should be copied from the Python PCBuild directory
to the directory db-4.4.20\build_win32.
The file db_static.vcproj in db-4.4.20\build_win32 should be edited to
remove the string "$(SolutionDir)" - this occurs in 2 places, only
relevant for 64-bit builds. (The edit is required as otherwise, nant
wants to read the solution file, which is not in a suitable form).
The bsddb library can then be build with the command
nant -buildfile:db.build all
run from the db-4.4.20\build_win32 directory.
_sqlite3
No changes are needed. However, in order for the tests to succeed, a
copy of sqlite3.dll must be downloaded, and placed alongside
python.exe.
_ssl
The documented build process works as written. However, it needs a
copy of the file setargv.obj, which is not supplied in the platform
SDK. However, the sources are available (in the crt source code). To
build setargv.obj, proceed as follows:
Copy setargv.c, cruntime.h and internal.h from %SDK%\src\crt to a
temporary directory.
Compile using "cl /c /I. /MD /D_CRTBLD setargv.c"
Copy the resulting setargv.obj to somewhere on your LIB environment
(%SDK%\lib is a reasonable place).
With setargv.obj in place, the standard build process should work
fine.
YOUR OWN EXTENSION DLLs
-----------------------
If you want to create your own extension module DLL, there's an example
with easy-to-follow instructions in ../PC/example/; read the file
readme.txt there first.
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