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Boost::Python doesn't work with Python 3.8 on 64bit Windows.

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
25/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Needs clarification
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
cpp, python
Domain
backend

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure with Boost 1.73.0, CPython 3.8.3 64-bit on Windows, and Visual Studio 2017, then compare the same extension under CPython 3.7. Inspect the DLL-loading failure reported for ben_scott1_ext and use the dependency information from the issue to narrow down the difference. Done means Boost.Python extensions load successfully on the stated Python 3.8 configuration.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

I seem to be unable to get boost::python working for CPython 3.8 (official 3.8.3 release for windows 64 bit) with boost 1.73.0. I'm using Visual Studio 2017 (15.9.23).

Problem is that boost and all extensions compile without error but any and all extensions using boost:::python fail to load. The exact error is "ImportError: DLL load failed while importing ben_scott1_ext: The specified module could not be found." which is not particularly helpful. According to dependency walker no dependencies seem to be missing. Interestingly enough the same extensions work fine on CPython 3.7 (and earlier),

Any idea on how to diagnose this further?

Python version:
Version : 3.8.3
Compiler : MSC v.1924 64 bit (AMD64)
Build : ('tags/v3.8.3:6f8c832', 'May 13 2020 22:37:02')

Dominant language
C++
Stars
537
Forks
223
Avg merge
11h 22m
Merged PRs (30d)
2

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