[Python-modules-team] Bug#464784: python-numpy please transition to gfortran/libblas-dev/lapack-dev

[David Cournapeau]

Hi,

    Following a comment done on numpy bug tracking system (ticket #667): 
dotblas uses the CBLAS API, and as such needs CBLAS; CBLAS functions 
(cblas_*) are simply not provided by BLAS. They are provided by ATLAS, 
though. So you cannot build dotblas with the netlib BLAS package (the 
one used in refblas3).
    This explains why numpy is 'picky' about ATLAS, more than other 
packages: numpy does not only use the F77 interface, but also the 
"official" C interface (I guess, but I am not sure, that the point is to 
have a fast multiplication available for numpy even if no fortran 
compiler is available on the building machine).
    To be able to replace libraries at runtime for a numpy built with 
ATLAS, you would need a libcblas, which is not available in debian 
AFAIK. So there is really no way around it: you have to wait for atlas, 
and built against it.

    cheers,

    David