After quite a bit of fussing around, just add binary packaged into rootfs overlay. This seems to work fine.

Author: o7-machinehum

buildroot

@@ -1,15 +1,43 @@
+config BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_PANDAS_ARCH_SUPPORTS
+	bool
+	# Numpy has some CPU specific code
+	default y if BR2_arc
+	default y if BR2_aarch64
+	default y if BR2_aarch64_be
+	default y if BR2_arm
+	default y if BR2_armeb
+	default y if BR2_i386
+	default y if BR2_m68k
+	default y if BR2_mips
+	default y if BR2_mipsel
+	default y if BR2_or1k
+	default y if BR2_powerpc
+	default y if BR2_powerpc64
+	default y if BR2_powerpc64le
+	default y if BR2_riscv
+	default y if BR2_sh
+	default y if BR2_sparc
+	default y if BR2_sparc64
+	default y if BR2_x86_64
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_PANDAS
     bool "python-pandas"
-
-    help
-        Powerful data structures for data analysis, time series, and statistics.
-
     select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_DATEUTIL
     select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_PYTZ
     select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_NUMPY
     select BR2_PACKAGE_BZIP2
-    select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PYTHON_VERSIONEER
     select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PYTHON_MESON_PYTHON
-    select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PYTHON_NUMPY
+    select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PYTHON_VERSIONEER
     select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PYTHON_CYTHON
+    select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_PYTHON_NUMPY
+
+    help
+        Powerful data structures for data analysis, time series, and statistics.
+
+
+comment "python-pandas needs a glibc or musl toolchain w/ C++, gcc >= 9"
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_PANDAS_ARCH_SUPPORTS
+	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || \
+		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_9 || \
+		!(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_GLIBC || BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_MUSL)
 

package/python-pandas/Config.in

@@ -17,15 +17,60 @@ PYTHON_PANDAS_DEPENDENCIES = \
     python-dateutil \
     python-pytz \
     python-numpy \
-    host-python-versioneer \
     host-python-numpy \
-    host-python-cython
+    host-python-versioneer \
+    host-python-cython \
+    host-python-meson-python
+
+# Generated by running this test program under QEMU:
+# https://github.com/numpy/numpy/blob/v1.26.4/numpy/core/meson.build#L376-L455
+ifeq ($(BR2_arcle),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_arceb),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_aarch64),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_QUAD_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_aarch64_be),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_QUAD_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_arm),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_armeb),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_i386),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = INTEL_EXTENDED_12_BYTES_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_or1k),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_m68k),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = MOTOROLA_EXTENDED_12_BYTES_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_mips),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_mipsel),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_powerpc),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IBM_DOUBLE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_powerpc64),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IBM_DOUBLE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_powerpc64le),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IBM_DOUBLE_DOUBLE_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_riscv),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_QUAD_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_sh4)$(BR2_sh4a),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_LE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_sh4eb)$(BR2_sh4aeb),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_sparc),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_DOUBLE_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_sparc64),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = IEEE_QUAD_BE
+else ifeq ($(BR2_x86_64),y)
+PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT = INTEL_EXTENDED_16_BYTES_LE
+endif
 
 PYTHON_PANDAS_CONF_ENV += \
-	_PYTHON_SYSCONFIGDATA_NAME=$(PKG_PYTHON_SYSCONFIGDATA_NAME) \
-	PYTHONPATH=$(PYTHON3_PATH)
+ 	_PYTHON_SYSCONFIGDATA_NAME=$(PKG_PYTHON_SYSCONFIGDATA_NAME) \
+    PYTHONPATH=$(PYTHON3_PATH)
 
-$(eval $(meson-package))
+PYTHON_PANDAS_MESON_EXTRA_PROPERTIES = \
+	longdouble_format='$(PYTHON_PANDAS_LONGDOUBLE_FORMAT)'
 
-# PYTHON_PANDAS_SETUP_TYPE = pep517
-# $(eval $(python-package))
+$(eval $(meson-package))