[forwarded from http://bugs.debian.org/197537]

Assume, python was built using `gcc' (version 3.3), but
an extension module needs to be built using `gcc-2.95',
because the library it depends on is still built by
g++-2.95, which has another ABI than g++-3.3.

I'm unable (or fail to see how) I can overwrite the
compiler used by distutils.

The bug has been fixed in 2.3, apparently it’s a doc bug now, so reassigning.

Is this still relevant, or should it be closed?

I no 0 idea what either of you think should be changed in the docs and where, and I suspect the same would be true of any other non-disutils expert, so if a patch is needed, it should come from one you two (Matthias?).

Meththias, you are not marked as having a Contributor Agreement on file. Paper forms were lost some years ago. I had to re-submit too. It is even easier now. http://www.python.org/psf/contrib/

Starting with Python 2.3, environment variables like CC (familiar to people compiling C projects on unix) are respected.  That’s what I think should be added to the distutils docs, maybe in the reference doc for build_ext, or in the narrative doc talking about extension modules.

Distutils is now deprecated (see PEP 632) and all tagged issues are being closed. From now until removal, only release blocking issues will be considered for distutils.

If this issue does not relate to distutils, please remove the component and reopen it. If you believe it still requires a fix, most likely the issue should be re-reported at https://github.com/pypa/setuptools