Index: Doc/distutils/setupscript.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/distutils/setupscript.rst	(Revision 70616)
+++ Doc/distutils/setupscript.rst	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -334,6 +334,10 @@
 
 There are still some other options which can be used to handle special cases.
 
+The :option:`optional` option is a boolean; if it is true, that specifies that
+a build failure in the extension should not abort the build process, but simply
+not install the failing extension.
+
 The :option:`extra_objects` option is a list of object files to be passed to the
 linker. These files must not have extensions, as the default extension for the
 compiler is used.
Index: Lib/distutils/command/build_ext.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/command/build_ext.py	(Revision 70616)
+++ Lib/distutils/command/build_ext.py	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -476,7 +476,13 @@
         self.check_extensions_list(self.extensions)
 
         for ext in self.extensions:
-            self.build_extension(ext)
+            try:
+                self.build_extension(ext)
+            except (CCompilerError, DistutilsError), why:
+                if not ext.optional:
+                    raise
+                self.warn('building extension "%s" failed: %s' %
+                          (ext.name, why))
 
     def build_extension(self, ext):
         sources = ext.sources
Index: Lib/distutils/extension.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/extension.py	(Revision 70616)
+++ Lib/distutils/extension.py	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@
                   swig_opts = None,
                   depends=None,
                   language=None,
+                  optional=None,
                   **kw                      # To catch unknown keywords
                  ):
         assert type(name) is StringType, "'name' must be a string"
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@
         self.swig_opts = swig_opts or []
         self.depends = depends or []
         self.language = language
+        self.optional = optional
 
         # If there are unknown keyword options, warn about them
         if len(kw):