The install command returns the following error when the --compiler
option is provided on the command line:

>python setup.py install --compiler=mingw32
usage: setup.py [global_opts] cmd1 [cmd1_opts] [cmd2 [cmd2_opts] ...]
   or: setup.py --help [cmd1 cmd2 ...]
   or: setup.py --help-commands
   or: setup.py cmd --help

error: option --compiler not recognized

This is problematic on Windows when MinGW is being used in place of
Visual C. A package can be built with --compiler=mingw32, but if no
compiler is specified for install the following error occurs:

>python setup.py install
running install
running build
running build_py
running build_ext
error: Python was built with Visual Studio 2003;
extensions must be built with a compiler than can generate compatible
binaries.
Visual Studio 2003 was not found on this system. If you have Cygwin
installed,
you can try compiling with MingW32, by passing "-c mingw32" to setup.py.


The work-around is to specify compiler=mingw32 in a setup.cfg file under
a [build] or [build_ext] heading. But this would be inconvenient for
someone who has both Visual C and MinGW and wants to choose.

Could you try whether

setup.py build --compiler=mingw32 install

works?

Yes, "setup.py build --compiler=mingw32 install" works. It is good
enough for me.