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 during the build process, not while installing.

Answer 1

The method I normally use is to override the command in question:

from distutils.command.install import install as DistutilsInstall

class MyInstall(DistutilsInstall):
    def run(self):
        do_pre_install_stuff()
        DistutilsInstall.run(self)
        do_post_install_stuff()

...

setup(..., cmdclass={'install': MyInstall}, ...)

This took me quite a while to figure out from the distutils documentation and source, so I hope it saves you the pain.

Note: you can also use this cmdclass parameter to add new commands.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

It is possible to build C libraries with distutils (see the libraries parameter of distutils.core.setup), but you may have to duplicate options that are already in the Makefile, so the easiest thing to do is probably to extend the install command as explained in other replies and call make with the subprocess module.