| # Windows MSVC Toolchains & Linking |
| |
| ## MSVC `#pragma comment(lib, ...)` Embedded References |
| * CPython's MSVC headers embed `#pragma comment(lib, "python3xx.lib")` into |
| generated `.obj` files. MSVC `link.exe` automatically searches for |
| `python3xx.lib` in library search paths during linking. |
| * **Citation**: [Microsoft Learn `comment` pragma](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/preprocessor/comment-c-cpp) |
| (*"Places a library-search record in the object file... The linker searches for |
| this library the same way as if you had named it on the command line"*). |
| |
| ## PEP 3149 ABI Tag Prefix (`cp` vs. `cpython-`) |
| * Windows CPython ABI tags use the `cp` prefix (e.g., `cp311`, `cp312t`) |
| whereas POSIX platforms use `cpython-` (e.g., `cpython-311`). |
| * **Citation**: [PEP 3149 — ABI version tagged .so files](https://peps.python.org/pep-3149/) |
| (*"The tag starts with `cpython-` followed by the Python major and minor version |
| without dots... followed by build flags"*). |
| |
| ## Windows Platform Tag Derivation |
| * Windows platform tags for Python C extensions evaluate to `win_amd64` |
| (x86_64/amd64), `win_arm64` (aarch64/arm64), or `win32` (32-bit x86). |
| * **`platform.machine()` Normalization**: On Windows, |
| `platform.machine()` returns uppercase (`"AMD64"`, `"ARM64"`). Always |
| normalize with `.lower()` when deriving PEP 508 markers or resolving platform |
| tags. |
| * **Citation**: [PEP 425 — Compatibility Tags for Built Distributions](https://peps.python.org/pep-0425/). |
| |
| ## Windows CPython SOABI & ABI Infix Support |
| * CPython on Windows natively supports loading ABI-tagged `.pyd` files |
| containing platform tags (e.g., `foo.cp314-win_amd64.pyd`, |
| `foo.cp311-win_amd64.pyd`). |
| * SOABI on Windows includes both the ABI prefix and platform tag (e.g., |
| `cp311-win_amd64`). |
