Hi I hope this message is not too off topic but I thought I would ask here first. I would very much like to (try...) to compile LuaTeX using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. But I'm not sure if this is likely to be enormously complex and maybe too difficult (for me, anyway). Does the list know it is possible to build LuaTeX under Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 --- if so, is this possible from Taco's source distribution without having to make substantial changes to anything. One small thing I can confirm is that Lunatic Python can be quite easily compiled to a Windows DLL to enable Python calls from Lua and hence LuaTeX on Windows. LuaTeX's support for exteral modules now makes it quite easy to do this. I can confirm this seems to work, although I've not really pushed it hard. The following very simple example does work. Inspiration for doing this is due to the intersting article by Luigi Scarso in the latest TUGBOAT. Here's a simple example (far away from the complexities of Luigi's work, but it shows the basic principle). This code is just quick hack to get it up and running. \directlua 0{ lib=package.loadlib('python.dll','luaopen_python') lib() pmw = python.globals() p=python.import('Image') im = p.open("c:\\logo.gif") r,s,t=im.format, im.size, im.mode tex.print(r,tostring(s),tostring(t)) sys = python.import("sys"); tex.print(tostring(sys.version_info)) } \stoptext Many thanks in advance to anyone who has time to share their expertise and insight on a Windows build. Why build it? Just as a way to learn more about how it works, that's it really. Warm wishes to all Graham