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October 2015

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OS X Python: can I explicitly set MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET for extensions?
by Andrew Jaffe Oct. 27, 2015

Oct. 27, 2015

[Also posted to general python list...] I use the python.org framework build of Python under recent versions of OS X (i.e., 10.11 El Capitan). I need to build some extensions that rely on recent versions of compilers (e.g., C++-11 features). However the python.org python is built to work on older systems as well, for backward compatibility. Hence, it has the environment variable MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.6. This means that extensions are built by default with a toolchain that, I think, mimics gcc-4.2, in particular in terms of what stdlib it searches. In the past, I have fixed this by installing more recent compilers with homebrew and explicitly setting CC, CXX, etc before installation. However, I have tried just setting MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.11, and that seems to work. Is this safe? Are there any downsides? (I don't need to distribute these builds, just use them locally?) Conversely, are there any upsides? Does a newer deployment target allow more recent compilers and/or higher optimizations? -Andrew

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