Re: [Boost-build] Installing python extensions

From: Vladimir Prus (ghost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-09-01 16:43:43

On Tuesday 28 August 2007 22:14:00 Doug Gregor wrote:

> > mpi.so, the Python extension module for boost.mpi gets built  
> > correctly, but it
> > gets installed in the wrong location, namely $prefix/lib. I assume  
> > that is
> > because it internally simply is a shared library. It really should  
> > be in
> > $prefix/lib/pythonN.N/site-packages/boost/, with directories along  
> > that path
> > created if necessary. Also, there's a file __init__.py under libs/ 
> > mpi/build
> > that needs to go under that same path.
> 
> Right. Back before BBv2, both of these libraries had BBv1-based build  
> systems that probed Python to find the right installation location  
> and placed all of the necessary files into the right site-packages.  
> However, I wasn't able to get this BBv1 ported to BBv2, because I got  
> lost (again) in the BBv2 system.
> 
> > How do I make that happen? I just spent more time than I care to  
> > admit trying
> > to figure this out, to no avail.
> 
> Ideally, the python-extension rule from python.jam would provide  
> installation directly into the appropriate site-packages, aided by  
> two Python extension-specific features, e.g.,
> 
> 	<python-sources>filename    # files to be installed along with the  
> Python module in site-packages
>         <python-module-root>root     # subdirectory of site-packages  
> where this module lives (e.g., boost/ or boost/mpi)
> 
> The BBv1 installation logic I had also dealt with home directory  
> installations, where everything went into ~/lib/python. I found that  
> useful on machines I don't administer.
> 
> We'll need help from a BBv2 expert to make this happen. I've hacked  
> quite a bit of BBv2 before, but for some reason this one stumped me.  
> It's pretty important for building Python modules with Boost.Python,  
> and as more Boost libraries get Python bindings it will become even  
> more important.

[personal CC for convenience, reply to list]

Doug, can you tell in more detail what install logic you want? Then,
I should be able to propose something.

- Volodya