On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 12:39 AM, Mark Lawrence <breamore...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >> >> It is compile time option. >> http://www.sqlite.org/compile.html#enable_fts3 >> you have to build it with this option enabled. >> > > As an option can be represented in a single bit then presumably the Windows > msi file only needs an extra bit to allow for this, or have I missed > something? While I'm at it what is this "compile time" thingy, being on > Windows I'm not used to seeing such terminology?
The implication of a compile-time switch is that it completely changes the code that gets compiled. For instance, Python 3.4 can be compiled with/out debugging support (which will slow down execution but enable certain features), with/out IPv6, and so on. Python 3.2 could also be compiled "narrow" or "wide" with regard to Unicode handling (internal representation UTF-16 or UTF-32). Each such change could make a huge difference to the size of the .msi file, but more importantly, a huge change to functionality. In the case of something like this, I'd guess that the compile-time switch would control the presence or absence of the code; at an absolute minimum, that would mean that disabling it makes for a smaller binary, but since it's an option I'd guess that there's more to it (maybe the presence of the feature has a performance penalty even if you don't use it). On Windows, where you're accustomed to downloading a ready-made binary, all compile-time choices were made for you at the time the binary was built. That's what compile time means - when Python (or SQLite) was turned from C source code into i386 or amd64 opcodes and packaged up into an exe and an msi. (In fact, one of the compile-time choices is the architecture - whether you build a 32-bit or 64-bit binary, whether you aim it at an Intel Itanium chip, etc, etc, etc. Generally, code runs only if the architecture is correct, though there are a few compatibility cases (i386 running on amd64, for instance).) The only real difference between Windows and Linux here is that it's customary for Linux systems to have C compilers readily available, where Windows generally forces you to think more about getting one. I can simply type "sudo apt-get build-dep python" on my Debian system and it'll go fetch a C compiler and all the necessary bits and bobs for building Python from source. (In fact, I did exactly that recently, as part of setting up a buildbot.) On Windows you would have to download the right compiler (probably some version of MS Visual Studio Express, if you want to replicate the python.org binaries), manually fetch any libraries you need, etc. It's more of a social difference than a technical one, but it does mean that your average Linux user is more likely to understand "Type ./configure --with-some-cool-feature to enable SomeCoolFeature" than your average Windows user is. ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
