How can I run a Makefile in setup.py?

Question

I need to compile ICU using it\'s own build mechanism. Therefore the question:

How can I run a Makefile from setup.py? Obviously, I only want it to run duri

Answer 1

If you are building a python extension you can use the distutils/setuptools Extensions. For example:

from setuptools import Extension
# or:
# from distutils.extension import Extension
setup(...
      ext_modules = [Extension("pkg.icu",
                               ["icu-sqlite/icu.c"]),
                    ]
      )

There are lots of options to build extensions, see the docs: http://docs.python.org/distutils/setupscript.html