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CHAPTER 1 Discovering ironPython
Building the Binaries from Scratch
You may eventually want to build the IronPython binaries from scratch. The normal reason to perform
this task is to create a special version of IronPython that meets specific needs. A company may want to
add extensions or special features to IronPython. Because you have the source code, it’s acceptable to
create a custom version of IronPython for yourself — one that contains any feature set you deem neces-
sary to get your work completed. So have fun molding IronPython and then sharing your modifications
with others. In order to perform this task, you must have a
copy of Visual Studio (you must have Visual Studio 2010 to
build a DLR version of IronPython). The following steps tell
you how to build the IronPython 2.6 binaries from scratch.
1. Download the source code file, such as
IronPython-2.6-Src.zip.
2. Extract the files into a folder. The example assumes
that you extracted the files into the root directory of
your hard drive into
\IronPython-2.6.
3. Locate the \IronPython-2.6\Src directory and
open the IronPython.sln solution using Visual Studio.
Visual Studio will load the required files, and you’ll
see them in Solution Explorer, as shown in Figure 1-2.
Figure 1-2 shows that IronPython consists of a number
of projects — you must compile the entire solution to
obtain a workable group of DLLs.
4. Make any required changes to the source code.
5. Choose Build Build Solution. Visual Studio
creates the required DLLs, ready for testing.
Using Third-Party Libraries
Python is an extremely flexible language and enjoys strong
third-party support. In fact, you can find lists of these libraries
in various places on the Internet. Here are a few places to check:
http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/tools/libraries.html
http://www.amaltas.org/show/third-party-python-libraries-and-frameworks.html
http://dakrauth.com/blog/entry/third-party-python-libraries-interest/
IronPython is a complex product. If you fail to compile the entire solution
every time you make a change, you could end up with an unworkable group
of DLLs due to interactions. It’s important to build everything so that any
changes propagate properly.
FIGURE 12: IronPython consists of
multiple projects, so you must compile
the entire solution.
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