GH-92584: Redirect to Setuptools' guidance on extension modules

[AA-Turner]

I'm unsure if we should just drop extending/windows entirely, as it internally reccomends just to use setuptools:

Module authors are encouraged to use the distutils approach for building extension modules, instead of the one described in this section.

A

• Issue: PEP 632: Remove the distutils package (Python 3.12) #92584

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📚 Documentation preview 📚: https://cpython-previews--108030.org.readthedocs.build/

[zooba]

I'm unsure if we should just drop extending/windows entirely

It's got important information in there that probably doesn't officially exist anywhere else, and for POSIX devs trying to make stuff work on Windows I'm sure it's invaluable (though it would be nice to have similar guides for Windows devs trying to make stuff work on *nix, but I'm not going to hold my breath). Expecting people to extract the same information from setuptools or another backend is asking too much.

That said, it's in desperate need of cleanup and modernisation anyway, so I won't miss it. A cross-platform primer on building extension modules by hand (i.e. without setuptools), referencing sysconfig heavily I'd expect, would be a great replacement.

[AA-Turner]

A cross-platform primer on building extension modules by hand (i.e. without setuptools), referencing sysconfig heavily I'd expect, would be a great replacement.

Should we open a new issue for this?

A

[zooba]

Should we open a new issue for this?

It won't hurt, but I'm not sure it'll help convince anyone to actually do it. But I don't know of any better place to put the note - maybe as a comment in the docs as well (referencing the soon-to-be-created new issue)?

[AA-Turner]

Opened #108064