Re: [Boost-build] [Patch] Fix Python support on Darwin

From: Douglas Gregor (doug.gregor_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-09-24 07:58:31

On Sep 24, 2006, at 3:13 AM, Vladimir Prus wrote:
> On Friday 22 September 2006 22:28, Doug Gregor wrote:
>> On Mac OS X, I believe frameworking linking is
>> always dynamic linking, so the problem doesn't crop up. At least, the
>> Python tests seem to be running...
>>
>> I still don't think we're handling extension modules properly. We
>> should be linking them with -bundle and (possibly) -bundle_loader,
>> but we aren't. Darwin is such a pain :(
>
> What's the difference between -framework and -bundle?

-framework combines -I for include directories, -L for library  
directories, and -l for linking against libraries in one "easy"  
package. If you're following the Mac OS X conventions for building  
Python models (which, of course, are different from all other  
conventions...) then just adding "-framework Python" will do the  
right thing when compiling with and linking against Python.

-bundle indicates that the shared library being build is actually a  
"bundle", which is a special kind of shared library meant to be  
loaded as an extension module in an application. You can't link  
against bundles directly. For Python extension modules, we should be  
using "-bundle", but not for shared libraries like libboost_python.

Confused? Me too.

> In any way, I know too little about Darwin to make any meaningfull  
> comments.
> I'd suggest to go ahead with this patch. If somebody has more  
> comments we can
> always adjust things.
[snip]
>
> But can you please add a comment here? At least, saying that on  
> Darwin,
> extensions must link to Python directly, or link error will occur?

Okay, will do.

        Doug