Re: [matplotlib-devel] autoconf+python

[Matěj T. <mat...@gm...>]

On Po, 2013-01-07 at 07:38 -1000, Eric Firing wrote:
> On 2013/01/07 7:29 AM, Michael Droettboom wrote:
> > I, also, am not too much up on the details --- but I think if it's
> > possible for "make install" to just call "python setup.py install" under
> > the hood, I'd have no objections.
> 
> I think I would even object to that.  What would be the point of it? 
> What problem would it solve?
> 
> Eric

There is one thing autotools are good at: Very easy cross-compilation
for end-users and pleasant handling of the C/C++ stuff (conditional
compilation, custom flags specified on command-line, lots of checks you
can perform before compilation, integrated testing framework etc.)

The only pitfall is that writing autotools stuff without knowing best
practices or without having full understanding of what you are doing is
going to result in endless bugreports you won't know how to solve.

If matplotlib relies heavily on C libraries, it might be beneficial,
otherwise it is probably not worth the effort for Python projects.

Matej