Py_ssize_t and its associated function typedefs are not available w/ python 2.4
So we define them in python-compat.h Even further, gcc issued a warning for: static int _workaround_pyrex_096() So we changed it to: _workaround_pyrex_096(void)
Also, some python api funcs were incorrectly defined as 'char *' when they meant 'const char *'. Work around that with a (char *) cast, to avoid compiler warnings.