[gdal-dev] Removal of Python SWIG python generated files from git

[Even Rouault]

> To play devil's advocate, were there any (perceived) benefits to this
> arrangement when originally introduced, other than not needing the
> SWIG binary to compile Python bindings?

That predates the start of my involvement with GDAL, so my guess would 
be that this was just what you mention: for the sake of simplicity of 
people building GDAL, at a time where its only build requirement was the 
basic tools autoconf, make and g++. Nowadays, getting SWIG isn't harder 
than getting PROJ or any of the "optional" dependencies you generally 
want to make a reasonably feature complete GDAL build.

Even

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