setup.py configuration without numba in build env

[nmgeek]

The documented integration of AOT compilation in a setup.py script requires importing the module to be compiled into setup.py. This requires that your build environment has every module that numba depends upon and every module imported by the file being compiled. This is heavy weight. It complicates and slows down the wheel building process.

This all comes from the perspective of porting from Cython to numba. Integrating Cython into setup.py requires only the Cython package to be installed in the build environment.

[github-actions]

This issue is marked as stale as it has had no activity in the past 30 days. Please close this issue if no further response or action is needed. Otherwise, please respond with any updates and confirm that this issue still needs to be addressed.

[gmarkall]

Presumably this is a feature request, but I'm not sure what we can do about it? It's hard to see how we can AOT-compile functions from a file without importing it, which will require importing everything it imports.

Perhaps the only workaround is to keep AOT-compiled functions in a file that imports a limited set of other modules?

[github-actions]

This issue is marked as stale as it has had no activity in the past 30 days. Please close this issue if no further response or action is needed. Otherwise, please respond with any updates and confirm that this issue still needs to be addressed.

[gmarkall]

I think given the lack of follow up we can just close this now.