Python bindings by default

[John Ralls]

On Apr 2, 2012, at 6:25 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:

> randfb <randfb at yahoo.com> writes:
> 
>> I have been waiting to use the pyhon bindings with the Windows version for a
>> year or two.
>> 
>> It would be fantastic if this could be accomplished.
> 
> I would recommend:
> 
> 1) You file an enhancement request in BZ for this
> 2) You might consider hacking on the shell script to help build this and
>   apply it to the Bz report.  This will cause it to get looked at much
>   quicker than just a raw "please do this for me".
> 
> This may or may not get done for 2.6.

I think adding Python bindings support for the Windows package is a bad idea for the same reason that I don't do it for the OSX package: As it is currently implemented it builds libraries which are dependent upon the exact version of Python installed on the build machine. ActiveState's Python *is not redistributable* [1], so we would need to build Python from source, link against that, and include it in an already too large package.

I'll also note that the python bindings are an application PROGRAMMING interface, i.e., *not for users*. It doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me that someone who wants to develop with Gnucash's API should have to build it from source first. It's tedious and annoying on Windows, but not difficult.

Regards,
John Ralls

[1] http://www.activestate.com/activepython/license-agreement