libffi package

[Thomas Heller <theller@python.net>]

Let me shortly introduce me:

I'm Thomas Heller, author and maintainer of the Python 'ctypes' foreign
function call package <http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/>.

This package works on Windows, and numerous other platforms (AFAIK
GNU/Linux, cygwin, Mac OSX, BSD, Solaris).

Up to now, 'ctypes' uses libffi on all platforms except on native
Windows.  For Windows, it contains some home made functions for function
calls, and also for closures.

To reduce code duplication, I would like to replace the homemade windows
functions by calls to libffi, although libffi must be extended by some
features I need.

So here are the questions:

Are there chances that patches to libffi to compile it with the
Microsoft compiler for Windows be accepted?  Patches for windows
specific features?

Are there any ideas to provide libffi as a standalone package, separate
from GCC, again?  Would there by anything I could help to make this
happen?

What about the docs?  They haven't changed in a few years (that's my
impression at least).  Are the Linux (and other) users happy to install
libffi by grabbing it from the CVS tree?

Aren't there conflicts between various hacked snapshots of libffi
floating around?

And finally (IANAL): is the redhat license still the one which applies
to libffi?

TIA,

Thomas