[David H]
  

Thanks for responding.  I tried the suggestion:
 C:\Zope-2.8.0a2> python.exe setup.py build_ext --inplace
 and the thing runs for a while (good sign, as visual c 6.0 is compiling
things) then I get this:

building 'Products.PluginIndexes.TextIndex.Splitter.ISO_8859_1_Splitter.ISO_8859_1_Splitter' extension
creating build\temp.win32-2.3\Release\Products\PluginIndexes\TextIndex\Splitter\ISO_8859_1_Splitter
creating build\temp.win32-2.3\Release\Products\PluginIndexes\TextIndex\Splitter\ISO_8859_1_Splitter\src
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\BIN\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /MD /W3 /GX /DNDEBUG -IC:\python23\include -IC:\python23\PC /TcProducts/PluginIndexes/TextIndex/Splitter/ISO_8859_1_Splitter/src/ISO_8859_1_Splitter.c /Fobuild\temp.win32-2.3\Release\Products/PluginIndexes/TextIndex/Splitter/ISO_8859_1_Splitter/src/ISO_8859_1_Splitter.obj  ISO_8859_1_Splitter.c
fatal error C1083: 
Cannot open source file: 
'Products/PluginIndexes/TextIndex/Splitter/ISO_8859_1_Splitter/src/ISO_8859_1_Splitter.c':
   No such file or directory
error: command '"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\BIN\cl.exe"'
failed with exit status 2

When I inspect
'Products/PluginIndexes/TextIndex/Splitter/ISO_8859_1_Splitter/src
I find only one file and its:
ISO_8859_000064 (no extension).
    

>From where did you obtain the Zope source code?  The file it's looking
for should be there.

For the heck of it, on WinXP I just downloaded Zope-2.8.0-a2.tgz from

    http://www.zope.org/Products/Zope/2.8.0a2

then unpacked it using WinZip 9.0 SR-1.  No problems:  build_ext -i
worked fine, and:

C:\Zope-2.8.0-a2\lib\python\Products\PluginIndexes\TextIndex\Splitter\ISO_8859_1_Splitter\src>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 5C0F-48E6

 Directory of C:\Zope-2.8.0-a2\lib\python\Products\PluginIndexes\TextIndex\Splitter\ISO_8859_1_Splitter\src

04/09/2005  06:49 PM    <DIR>          .
04/09/2005  06:49 PM    <DIR>          ..
04/02/2005  04:26 AM            15,437 ISO_8859_1_Splitter.c
               1 File(s)         15,437 bytes
...