diff -r ffa851df0825 -r 2fb8b9db1c86 symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/README --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/README Fri Jul 31 15:01:17 2009 +0100 @@ -0,0 +1,1321 @@ +This is Python version 2.6.1 +============================ + +Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 +Python Software Foundation. +All rights reserved. + +Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com. +All rights reserved. + +Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives. +All rights reserved. + +Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum. +All rights reserved. + + +License information +------------------- + +See the file "LICENSE" for information on the history of this +software, terms & conditions for usage, and a DISCLAIMER OF ALL +WARRANTIES. + +This Python distribution contains no GNU General Public Licensed +(GPLed) code so it may be used in proprietary projects just like prior +Python distributions. There are interfaces to some GNU code but these +are entirely optional. + +All trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective +holders. + + +What's new in this release? +--------------------------- + +See the file "Misc/NEWS". + + +If you don't read instructions +------------------------------ + +Congratulations on getting this far. :-) + +To start building right away (on UNIX): type "./configure" in the +current directory and when it finishes, type "make". This creates an +executable "./python"; to install in /usr/local, first do "su root" +and then "make install". + +The section `Build instructions' below is still recommended reading. + + +What is Python anyway? +---------------------- + +Python is an interpreted, interactive object-oriented programming +language suitable (amongst other uses) for distributed application +development, scripting, numeric computing and system testing. Python +is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic or +Scheme. To find out more about what Python can do for you, point your +browser to http://www.python.org/. + + +How do I learn Python? +---------------------- + +The official tutorial is still a good place to start; see +http://docs.python.org/ for online and downloadable versions, as well +as a list of other introductions, and reference documentation. + +There's a quickly growing set of books on Python. See +http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks for a list. + + +Documentation +------------- + +All documentation is provided online in a variety of formats. In +order of importance for new users: Tutorial, Library Reference, +Language Reference, Extending & Embedding, and the Python/C API. The +Library Reference is especially of immense value since much of +Python's power is described there, including the built-in data types +and functions! + +All documentation is also available online at the Python web site +(http://docs.python.org/, see below). It is available online for occasional +reference, or can be downloaded in many formats for faster access. The +documentation is downloadable in HTML, PostScript, PDF, LaTeX, and +reStructuredText (2.6+) formats; the LaTeX and reStructuredText versions are +primarily for documentation authors, translators, and people with special +formatting requirements. + + +Web sites +--------- + +New Python releases and related technologies are published at +http://www.python.org/. Come visit us! + +There's also a Python community web site at +http://starship.python.net/. + + +Newsgroups and Mailing Lists +---------------------------- + +Read comp.lang.python, a high-volume discussion newsgroup about +Python, or comp.lang.python.announce, a low-volume moderated newsgroup +for Python-related announcements. These are also accessible as +mailing lists: see http://www.python.org/community/lists.html for an +overview of these and many other Python-related mailing lists. + +Archives are accessible via the Google Groups Usenet archive; see +http://groups.google.com/. The mailing lists are also archived, see +http://www.python.org/community/lists.html for details. + + +Bug reports +----------- + +To report or search for bugs, please use the Python Bug +Tracker at http://bugs.python.org. + + +Patches and contributions +------------------------- + +To submit a patch or other contribution, please use the Python Patch +Manager at http://bugs.python.org. Guidelines +for patch submission may be found at http://www.python.org/dev/patches/. + +If you have a proposal to change Python, you may want to send an email to the +comp.lang.python or python-ideas mailing lists for inital feedback. A Python +Enhancement Proposal (PEP) may be submitted if your idea gains ground. All +current PEPs, as well as guidelines for submitting a new PEP, are listed at +http://www.python.org/dev/peps/. + + +Questions +--------- + +For help, if you can't find it in the manuals or on the web site, it's +best to post to the comp.lang.python or the Python mailing list (see +above). If you specifically don't want to involve the newsgroup or +mailing list, send questions to help@python.org (a group of volunteers +who answer questions as they can). The newsgroup is the most +efficient way to ask public questions. + + +Build instructions +================== + +Before you can build Python, you must first configure it. +Fortunately, the configuration and build process has been automated +for Unix and Linux installations, so all you usually have to do is +type a few commands and sit back. There are some platforms where +things are not quite as smooth; see the platform specific notes below. +If you want to build for multiple platforms sharing the same source +tree, see the section on VPATH below. + +Start by running the script "./configure", which determines your +system configuration and creates the Makefile. (It takes a minute or +two -- please be patient!) You may want to pass options to the +configure script -- see the section below on configuration options and +variables. When it's done, you are ready to run make. + +To build Python, you normally type "make" in the toplevel directory. +If you have changed the configuration, the Makefile may have to be +rebuilt. In this case you may have to run make again to correctly +build your desired target. The interpreter executable is built in the +top level directory. + +Once you have built a Python interpreter, see the subsections below on +testing and installation. If you run into trouble, see the next +section. + +Previous versions of Python used a manual configuration process that +involved editing the file Modules/Setup. While this file still exists +and manual configuration is still supported, it is rarely needed any +more: almost all modules are automatically built as appropriate under +guidance of the setup.py script, which is run by Make after the +interpreter has been built. + + +Troubleshooting +--------------- + +See also the platform specific notes in the next section. + +If you run into other trouble, see the FAQ +(http://www.python.org/doc/faq) for hints on what can go wrong, and +how to fix it. + +If you rerun the configure script with different options, remove all +object files by running "make clean" before rebuilding. Believe it or +not, "make clean" sometimes helps to clean up other inexplicable +problems as well. Try it before sending in a bug report! + +If the configure script fails or doesn't seem to find things that +should be there, inspect the config.log file. + +If you get a warning for every file about the -Olimit option being no +longer supported, you can ignore it. There's no foolproof way to know +whether this option is needed; all we can do is test whether it is +accepted without error. On some systems, e.g. older SGI compilers, it +is essential for performance (specifically when compiling ceval.c, +which has more basic blocks than the default limit of 1000). If the +warning bothers you, edit the Makefile to remove "-Olimit 1500" from +the OPT variable. + +If you get failures in test_long, or sys.maxint gets set to -1, you +are probably experiencing compiler bugs, usually related to +optimization. This is a common problem with some versions of gcc, and +some vendor-supplied compilers, which can sometimes be worked around +by turning off optimization. Consider switching to stable versions +(gcc 2.95.2, gcc 3.x, or contact your vendor.) + +From Python 2.0 onward, all Python C code is ANSI C. Compiling using +old K&R-C-only compilers is no longer possible. ANSI C compilers are +available for all modern systems, either in the form of updated +compilers from the vendor, or one of the free compilers (gcc). + +If "make install" fails mysteriously during the "compiling the library" +step, make sure that you don't have any of the PYTHONPATH or PYTHONHOME +environment variables set, as they may interfere with the newly built +executable which is compiling the library. + +Unsupported systems +------------------- + +A number of features are not supported in Python 2.5 anymore. Some +support code is still present, but will be removed in Python 2.6. +If you still need to use current Python versions on these systems, +please send a message to python-dev@python.org indicating that you +volunteer to support this system. For a more detailed discussion +regarding no-longer-supported and resupporting platforms, as well +as a list of platforms that became or will be unsupported, see PEP 11. + +More specifically, the following systems are not supported any +longer: +- SunOS 4 +- DYNIX +- dgux +- Minix +- NeXT +- Irix 4 and --with-sgi-dl +- Linux 1 +- Systems defining __d6_pthread_create (configure.in) +- Systems defining PY_PTHREAD_D4, PY_PTHREAD_D6, + or PY_PTHREAD_D7 in thread_pthread.h +- Systems using --with-dl-dld +- Systems using --without-universal-newlines +- MacOS 9 + +The following systems are still supported in Python 2.5, but +support will be dropped in 2.6: +- Systems using --with-wctype-functions +- Win9x, WinME + +Warning on install in Windows 98 and Windows Me +----------------------------------------------- + +Following Microsoft's closing of Extended Support for +Windows 98/ME (July 11, 2006), Python 2.6 will stop +supporting these platforms. Python development and +maintainability becomes easier (and more reliable) when +platform specific code targeting OSes with few users +and no dedicated expert developers is taken out. The +vendor also warns that the OS versions listed above +"can expose customers to security risks" and recommends +upgrade. + +Platform specific notes +----------------------- + +(Some of these may no longer apply. If you find you can build Python +on these platforms without the special directions mentioned here, +submit a documentation bug report to SourceForge (see Bug Reports +above) so we can remove them!) + +Unix platforms: If your vendor still ships (and you still use) Berkeley DB + 1.85 you will need to edit Modules/Setup to build the bsddb185 + module and add a line to sitecustomize.py which makes it the + default. In Modules/Setup a line like + + bsddb185 bsddbmodule.c + + should work. (You may need to add -I, -L or -l flags to direct the + compiler and linker to your include files and libraries.) + +XXX I think this next bit is out of date: + +64-bit platforms: The modules audioop, and imageop don't work. + The setup.py script disables them on 64-bit installations. + Don't try to enable them in the Modules/Setup file. They + contain code that is quite wordsize sensitive. (If you have a + fix, let us know!) + +Solaris: When using Sun's C compiler with threads, at least on Solaris + 2.5.1, you need to add the "-mt" compiler option (the simplest + way is probably to specify the compiler with this option as + the "CC" environment variable when running the configure + script). + + When using GCC on Solaris, beware of binutils 2.13 or GCC + versions built using it. This mistakenly enables the + -zcombreloc option which creates broken shared libraries on + Solaris. binutils 2.12 works, and the binutils maintainers + are aware of the problem. Binutils 2.13.1 only partially + fixed things. It appears that 2.13.2 solves the problem + completely. This problem is known to occur with Solaris 2.7 + and 2.8, but may also affect earlier and later versions of the + OS. + + When the dynamic loader complains about errors finding shared + libraries, such as + + ld.so.1: ./python: fatal: libstdc++.so.5: open failed: + No such file or directory + + you need to first make sure that the library is available on + your system. Then, you need to instruct the dynamic loader how + to find it. You can choose any of the following strategies: + + 1. When compiling Python, set LD_RUN_PATH to the directories + containing missing libraries. + 2. When running Python, set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to these directories. + 3. Use crle(8) to extend the search path of the loader. + 4. Modify the installed GCC specs file, adding -R options into the + *link: section. + + The complex object fails to compile on Solaris 10 with gcc 3.4 (at + least up to 3.4.3). To work around it, define Py_HUGE_VAL as + HUGE_VAL(), e.g.: + + make CPPFLAGS='-D"Py_HUGE_VAL=HUGE_VAL()" -I. -I$(srcdir)/Include' + ./python setup.py CPPFLAGS='-D"Py_HUGE_VAL=HUGE_VAL()"' + +Linux: A problem with threads and fork() was tracked down to a bug in + the pthreads code in glibc version 2.0.5; glibc version 2.0.7 + solves the problem. This causes the popen2 test to fail; + problem and solution reported by Pablo Bleyer. + +Red Hat Linux: Red Hat 9 built Python2.2 in UCS-4 mode and hacked + Tcl to support it. To compile Python2.3 with Tkinter, you will + need to pass --enable-unicode=ucs4 flag to ./configure. + + There's an executable /usr/bin/python which is Python + 1.5.2 on most older Red Hat installations; several key Red Hat tools + require this version. Python 2.1.x may be installed as + /usr/bin/python2. The Makefile installs Python as + /usr/local/bin/python, which may or may not take precedence + over /usr/bin/python, depending on how you have set up $PATH. + +FreeBSD 3.x and probably platforms with NCurses that use libmytinfo or + similar: When using cursesmodule, the linking is not done in + the correct order with the defaults. Remove "-ltermcap" from + the readline entry in Setup, and use as curses entry: "curses + cursesmodule.c -lmytinfo -lncurses -ltermcap" - "mytinfo" (so + called on FreeBSD) should be the name of the auxiliary library + required on your platform. Normally, it would be linked + automatically, but not necessarily in the correct order. + +BSDI: BSDI versions before 4.1 have known problems with threads, + which can cause strange errors in a number of modules (for + instance, the 'test_signal' test script will hang forever.) + Turning off threads (with --with-threads=no) or upgrading to + BSDI 4.1 solves this problem. + +DEC Unix: Run configure with --with-dec-threads, or with + --with-threads=no if no threads are desired (threads are on by + default). When using GCC, it is possible to get an internal + compiler error if optimization is used. This was reported for + GCC 2.7.2.3 on selectmodule.c. Manually compile the affected + file without optimization to solve the problem. + +DEC Ultrix: compile with GCC to avoid bugs in the native compiler, + and pass SHELL=/bin/sh5 to Make when installing. + +AIX: A complete overhaul of the shared library support is now in + place. See Misc/AIX-NOTES for some notes on how it's done. + (The optimizer bug reported at this place in previous releases + has been worked around by a minimal code change.) If you get + errors about pthread_* functions, during compile or during + testing, try setting CC to a thread-safe (reentrant) compiler, + like "cc_r". For full C++ module support, set CC="xlC_r" (or + CC="xlC" without thread support). + +AIX 5.3: To build a 64-bit version with IBM's compiler, I used the + following: + + export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/vacpp/bin + ./configure --with-gcc="xlc_r -q64" --with-cxx="xlC_r -q64" \ + --disable-ipv6 AR="ar -X64" + make + +HP-UX: When using threading, you may have to add -D_REENTRANT to the + OPT variable in the top-level Makefile; reported by Pat Knight, + this seems to make a difference (at least for HP-UX 10.20) + even though pyconfig.h defines it. This seems unnecessary when + using HP/UX 11 and later - threading seems to work "out of the + box". + +HP-UX ia64: When building on the ia64 (Itanium) platform using HP's + compiler, some experience has shown that the compiler's + optimiser produces a completely broken version of python + (see http://www.python.org/sf/814976). To work around this, + edit the Makefile and remove -O from the OPT line. + + To build a 64-bit executable on an Itanium 2 system using HP's + compiler, use these environment variables: + + CC=cc + CXX=aCC + BASECFLAGS="+DD64" + LDFLAGS="+DD64 -lxnet" + + and call configure as: + + ./configure --without-gcc + + then *unset* the environment variables again before running + make. (At least one of these flags causes the build to fail + if it remains set.) You still have to edit the Makefile and + remove -O from the OPT line. + +HP PA-RISC 2.0: A recent bug report (http://www.python.org/sf/546117) + suggests that the C compiler in this 64-bit system has bugs + in the optimizer that break Python. Compiling without + optimization solves the problems. + +SCO: The following apply to SCO 3 only; Python builds out of the box + on SCO 5 (or so we've heard). + + 1) Everything works much better if you add -U__STDC__ to the + defs. This is because all the SCO header files are broken. + Anything that isn't mentioned in the C standard is + conditionally excluded when __STDC__ is defined. + + 2) Due to the U.S. export restrictions, SCO broke the crypt + stuff out into a separate library, libcrypt_i.a so the LIBS + needed be set to: + + LIBS=' -lsocket -lcrypt_i' + +UnixWare: There are known bugs in the math library of the system, as well as + problems in the handling of threads (calling fork in one + thread may interrupt system calls in others). Therefore, test_math and + tests involving threads will fail until those problems are fixed. + +QNX: Chris Herborth (chrish@qnx.com) writes: + configure works best if you use GNU bash; a port is available on + ftp.qnx.com in /usr/free. I used the following process to build, + test and install Python 1.5.x under QNX: + + 1) CONFIG_SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash CC=cc RANLIB=: \ + ./configure --verbose --without-gcc --with-libm="" + + 2) edit Modules/Setup to activate everything that makes sense for + your system... tested here at QNX with the following modules: + + array, audioop, binascii, cPickle, cStringIO, cmath, + crypt, curses, errno, fcntl, gdbm, grp, imageop, + _locale, math, md5, new, operator, parser, pcre, + posix, pwd, readline, regex, reop, + select, signal, socket, soundex, strop, struct, + syslog, termios, time, timing, zlib, audioop, imageop + + 3) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash + + or, if you feel the need for speed: + + make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash OPT="-5 -Oil+nrt" + + 4) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash test + + Using GNU readline 2.2 seems to behave strangely, but I + think that's a problem with my readline 2.2 port. :-\ + + 5) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash install + + If you get SIGSEGVs while running Python (I haven't yet, but + I've only run small programs and the test cases), you're + probably running out of stack; the default 32k could be a + little tight. To increase the stack size, edit the Makefile + to read: LDFLAGS = -N 48k + +BeOS: See Misc/BeOS-NOTES for notes about compiling/installing + Python on BeOS R3 or later. Note that only the PowerPC + platform is supported for R3; both PowerPC and x86 are + supported for R4. + +Cray T3E: Mark Hadfield (m.hadfield@niwa.co.nz) writes: + Python can be built satisfactorily on a Cray T3E but based on + my experience with the NIWA T3E (2002-05-22, version 2.2.1) + there are a few bugs and gotchas. For more information see a + thread on comp.lang.python in May 2002 entitled "Building + Python on Cray T3E". + + 1) Use Cray's cc and not gcc. The latter was reported not to + work by Konrad Hinsen. It may work now, but it may not. + + 2) To set sys.platform to something sensible, pass the + following environment variable to the configure script: + + MACHDEP=unicosmk + + 2) Run configure with option "--enable-unicode=ucs4". + + 3) The Cray T3E does not support dynamic linking, so extension + modules have to be built by adding (or uncommenting) lines + in Modules/Setup. The minimum set of modules is + + posix, new, _sre, unicodedata + + On NIWA's vanilla T3E system the following have also been + included successfully: + + _codecs, _locale, _socket, _symtable, _testcapi, _weakref + array, binascii, cmath, cPickle, crypt, cStringIO, dbm + errno, fcntl, grp, math, md5, operator, parser, pcre, pwd + regex, rotor, select, struct, strop, syslog, termios + time, timing, xreadlines + + 4) Once the python executable and library have been built, make + will execute setup.py, which will attempt to build remaining + extensions and link them dynamically. Each of these attempts + will fail but should not halt the make process. This is + normal. + + 5) Running "make test" uses a lot of resources and causes + problems on our system. You might want to try running tests + singly or in small groups. + +SGI: SGI's standard "make" utility (/bin/make or /usr/bin/make) + does not check whether a command actually changed the file it + is supposed to build. This means that whenever you say "make" + it will redo the link step. The remedy is to use SGI's much + smarter "smake" utility (/usr/sbin/smake), or GNU make. If + you set the first line of the Makefile to #!/usr/sbin/smake + smake will be invoked by make (likewise for GNU make). + + WARNING: There are bugs in the optimizer of some versions of + SGI's compilers that can cause bus errors or other strange + behavior, especially on numerical operations. To avoid this, + try building with "make OPT=". + +OS/2: If you are running Warp3 or Warp4 and have IBM's VisualAge C/C++ + compiler installed, just change into the pc\os2vacpp directory + and type NMAKE. Threading and sockets are supported by default + in the resulting binaries of PYTHON15.DLL and PYTHON.EXE. + +Monterey (64-bit AIX): The current Monterey C compiler (Visual Age) + uses the OBJECT_MODE={32|64} environment variable to set the + compilation mode to either 32-bit or 64-bit (32-bit mode is + the default). Presumably you want 64-bit compilation mode for + this 64-bit OS. As a result you must first set OBJECT_MODE=64 + in your environment before configuring (./configure) or + building (make) Python on Monterey. + +Reliant UNIX: The thread support does not compile on Reliant UNIX, and + there is a (minor) problem in the configure script for that + platform as well. This should be resolved in time for a + future release. + +MacOSX: The tests will crash on both 10.1 and 10.2 with SEGV in + test_re and test_sre due to the small default stack size. If + you set the stack size to 2048 before doing a "make test" the + failure can be avoided. If you're using the tcsh or csh shells, + use "limit stacksize 2048" and for the bash shell (the default + as of OSX 10.3), use "ulimit -s 2048". + + On naked Darwin you may want to add the configure option + "--disable-toolbox-glue" to disable the glue code for the Carbon + interface modules. The modules themselves are currently only built + if you add the --enable-framework option, see below. + + On a clean OSX /usr/local does not exist. Do a + "sudo mkdir -m 775 /usr/local" + before you do a make install. It is probably not a good idea to + do "sudo make install" which installs everything as superuser, + as this may later cause problems when installing distutils-based + additions. + + Some people have reported problems building Python after using "fink" + to install additional unix software. Disabling fink (remove all + references to /sw from your .profile or .login) should solve this. + + You may want to try the configure option "--enable-framework" + which installs Python as a framework. The location can be set + as argument to the --enable-framework option (default + /Library/Frameworks). A framework install is probably needed if you + want to use any Aqua-based GUI toolkit (whether Tkinter, wxPython, + Carbon, Cocoa or anything else). + + You may also want to try the configure option "--enable-universalsdk" + which builds Python as a universal binary with support for the + i386 and PPC architetures. This requires Xcode 2.1 or later to build. + + See Mac/README for more information on framework and + universal builds. + +Cygwin: With recent (relative to the time of writing, 2001-12-19) + Cygwin installations, there are problems with the interaction + of dynamic linking and fork(). This manifests itself in build + failures during the execution of setup.py. + + There are two workarounds that both enable Python (albeit + without threading support) to build and pass all tests on + NT/2000 (and most likely XP as well, though reports of testing + on XP would be appreciated). + + The workarounds: + + (a) the band-aid fix is to link the _socket module statically + rather than dynamically (which is the default). + + To do this, run "./configure --with-threads=no" including any + other options you need (--prefix, etc.). Then in Modules/Setup + uncomment the lines: + + #SSL=/usr/local/ssl + #_socket socketmodule.c \ + # -DUSE_SSL -I$(SSL)/include -I$(SSL)/include/openssl \ + # -L$(SSL)/lib -lssl -lcrypto + + and remove "local/" from the SSL variable. Finally, just run + "make"! + + (b) The "proper" fix is to rebase the Cygwin DLLs to prevent + base address conflicts. Details on how to do this can be + found in the following mail: + + http://sources.redhat.com/ml/cygwin/2001-12/msg00894.html + + It is hoped that a version of this solution will be + incorporated into the Cygwin distribution fairly soon. + + Two additional problems: + + (1) Threading support should still be disabled due to a known + bug in Cygwin pthreads that causes test_threadedtempfile to + hang. + + (2) The _curses module does not build. This is a known + Cygwin ncurses problem that should be resolved the next time + that this package is released. + + On older versions of Cygwin, test_poll may hang and test_strftime + may fail. + + The situation on 9X/Me is not accurately known at present. + Some time ago, there were reports that the following + regression tests failed: + + test_pwd + test_select (hang) + test_socket + + Due to the test_select hang on 9X/Me, one should run the + regression test using the following: + + make TESTOPTS='-l -x test_select' test + + News regarding these platforms with more recent Cygwin + versions would be appreciated! + +AtheOS: Official support has been stopped as of Python 2.6. All code will be + removed in Python 2.7 unless a maintainer steps forward for this + platform. + + From Octavian Cerna : + + Before building: + + Make sure you have shared versions of the libraries you + want to use with Python. You will have to compile them + yourself, or download precompiled packages. + + Recommended libraries: + + ncurses-4.2 + readline-4.2a + zlib-1.1.4 + + Build: + + $ ./configure --prefix=/usr/python + $ make + + Python is always built as a shared library, otherwise + dynamic loading would not work. + + Testing: + + $ make test + + Install: + + # make install + # pkgmanager -a /usr/python + + + AtheOS issues: + + - large file support: due to a stdio bug in glibc/libio, + access to large files may not work correctly. fseeko() + tries to seek to a negative offset. ftello() returns a + negative offset, it looks like a 32->64bit + sign-extension issue. The lowlevel functions (open, + lseek, etc) are OK. + - sockets: AF_UNIX is defined in the C library and in + Python, but not implemented in the system. + - select: poll is available in the C library, but does not + work (It does not return POLLNVAL for bad fds and + hangs). + - posix: statvfs and fstatvfs always return ENOSYS. + - disabled modules: + - mmap: not yet implemented in AtheOS + - nis: broken (on an unconfigured system + yp_get_default_domain() returns junk instead of + error) + - dl: dynamic loading doesn't work via dlopen() + - resource: getrimit and setrlimit are not yet + implemented + + - if you are getting segmentation faults, you probably are + low on memory. AtheOS doesn't handle very well an + out-of-memory condition and simply SEGVs the process. + + Tested on: + + AtheOS-0.3.7 + gcc-2.95 + binutils-2.10 + make-3.78 + + +Configuring the bsddb and dbm modules +------------------------------------- + +Beginning with Python version 2.3, the PyBsddb package + was adopted into Python as the bsddb package, +exposing a set of package-level functions which provide +backwards-compatible behavior. Only versions 3.3 through 4.4 of +Sleepycat's libraries provide the necessary API, so older versions +aren't supported through this interface. The old bsddb module has +been retained as bsddb185, though it is not built by default. Users +wishing to use it will have to tweak Modules/Setup to build it. The +dbm module will still be built against the Sleepycat libraries if +other preferred alternatives (ndbm, gdbm) are not found. + +Building the sqlite3 module +--------------------------- + +To build the sqlite3 module, you'll need the sqlite3 or libsqlite3 +packages installed, including the header files. Many modern operating +systems distribute the headers in a separate package to the library - +often it will be the same name as the main package, but with a -dev or +-devel suffix. + +The version of pysqlite2 that's including in Python needs sqlite3 3.0.8 +or later. setup.py attempts to check that it can find a correct version. + +Configuring threads +------------------- + +As of Python 2.0, threads are enabled by default. If you wish to +compile without threads, or if your thread support is broken, pass the +--with-threads=no switch to configure. Unfortunately, on some +platforms, additional compiler and/or linker options are required for +threads to work properly. Below is a table of those options, +collected by Bill Janssen. We would love to automate this process +more, but the information below is not enough to write a patch for the +configure.in file, so manual intervention is required. If you patch +the configure.in file and are confident that the patch works, please +send in the patch. (Don't bother patching the configure script itself +-- it is regenerated each time the configure.in file changes.) + +Compiler switches for threads +............................. + +The definition of _REENTRANT should be configured automatically, if +that does not work on your system, or if _REENTRANT is defined +incorrectly, please report that as a bug. + + OS/Compiler/threads Switches for use with threads + (POSIX is draft 10, DCE is draft 4) compile & link + + SunOS 5.{1-5}/{gcc,SunPro cc}/solaris -mt + SunOS 5.5/{gcc,SunPro cc}/POSIX (nothing) + DEC OSF/1 3.x/cc/DCE -threads + (butenhof@zko.dec.com) + Digital UNIX 4.x/cc/DCE -threads + (butenhof@zko.dec.com) + Digital UNIX 4.x/cc/POSIX -pthread + (butenhof@zko.dec.com) + AIX 4.1.4/cc_r/d7 (nothing) + (buhrt@iquest.net) + AIX 4.1.4/cc_r4/DCE (nothing) + (buhrt@iquest.net) + IRIX 6.2/cc/POSIX (nothing) + (robertl@cwi.nl) + + +Linker (ld) libraries and flags for threads +........................................... + + OS/threads Libraries/switches for use with threads + + SunOS 5.{1-5}/solaris -lthread + SunOS 5.5/POSIX -lpthread + DEC OSF/1 3.x/DCE -lpthreads -lmach -lc_r -lc + (butenhof@zko.dec.com) + Digital UNIX 4.x/DCE -lpthreads -lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc + (butenhof@zko.dec.com) + Digital UNIX 4.x/POSIX -lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc + (butenhof@zko.dec.com) + AIX 4.1.4/{draft7,DCE} (nothing) + (buhrt@iquest.net) + IRIX 6.2/POSIX -lpthread + (jph@emilia.engr.sgi.com) + + +Building a shared libpython +--------------------------- + +Starting with Python 2.3, the majority of the interpreter can be built +into a shared library, which can then be used by the interpreter +executable, and by applications embedding Python. To enable this feature, +configure with --enable-shared. + +If you enable this feature, the same object files will be used to create +a static library. In particular, the static library will contain object +files using position-independent code (PIC) on platforms where PIC flags +are needed for the shared library. + + +Configuring additional built-in modules +--------------------------------------- + +Starting with Python 2.1, the setup.py script at the top of the source +distribution attempts to detect which modules can be built and +automatically compiles them. Autodetection doesn't always work, so +you can still customize the configuration by editing the Modules/Setup +file; but this should be considered a last resort. The rest of this +section only applies if you decide to edit the Modules/Setup file. +You also need this to enable static linking of certain modules (which +is needed to enable profiling on some systems). + +This file is initially copied from Setup.dist by the configure script; +if it does not exist yet, create it by copying Modules/Setup.dist +yourself (configure will never overwrite it). Never edit Setup.dist +-- always edit Setup or Setup.local (see below). Read the comments in +the file for information on what kind of edits are allowed. When you +have edited Setup in the Modules directory, the interpreter will +automatically be rebuilt the next time you run make (in the toplevel +directory). + +Many useful modules can be built on any Unix system, but some optional +modules can't be reliably autodetected. Often the quickest way to +determine whether a particular module works or not is to see if it +will build: enable it in Setup, then if you get compilation or link +errors, disable it -- you're either missing support or need to adjust +the compilation and linking parameters for that module. + +On SGI IRIX, there are modules that interface to many SGI specific +system libraries, e.g. the GL library and the audio hardware. These +modules will not be built by the setup.py script. + +In addition to the file Setup, you can also edit the file Setup.local. +(the makesetup script processes both). You may find it more +convenient to edit Setup.local and leave Setup alone. Then, when +installing a new Python version, you can copy your old Setup.local +file. + + +Setting the optimization/debugging options +------------------------------------------ + +If you want or need to change the optimization/debugging options for +the C compiler, assign to the OPT variable on the toplevel make +command; e.g. "make OPT=-g" will build a debugging version of Python +on most platforms. The default is OPT=-O; a value for OPT in the +environment when the configure script is run overrides this default +(likewise for CC; and the initial value for LIBS is used as the base +set of libraries to link with). + +When compiling with GCC, the default value of OPT will also include +the -Wall and -Wstrict-prototypes options. + +Additional debugging code to help debug memory management problems can +be enabled by using the --with-pydebug option to the configure script. + +For flags that change binary compatibility, use the EXTRA_CFLAGS +variable. + + +Profiling +--------- + +If you want C profiling turned on, the easiest way is to run configure +with the CC environment variable to the necessary compiler +invocation. For example, on Linux, this works for profiling using +gprof(1): + + CC="gcc -pg" ./configure + +Note that on Linux, gprof apparently does not work for shared +libraries. The Makefile/Setup mechanism can be used to compile and +link most extension modules statically. + + +Coverage checking +----------------- + +For C coverage checking using gcov, run "make coverage". This will +build a Python binary with profiling activated, and a ".gcno" and +".gcda" file for every source file compiled with that option. With +the built binary, now run the code whose coverage you want to check. +Then, you can see coverage statistics for each individual source file +by running gcov, e.g. + + gcov -o Modules zlibmodule + +This will create a "zlibmodule.c.gcov" file in the current directory +containing coverage info for that source file. + +This works only for source files statically compiled into the +executable; use the Makefile/Setup mechanism to compile and link +extension modules you want to coverage-check statically. + + +Testing +------- + +To test the interpreter, type "make test" in the top-level directory. +This runs the test set twice (once with no compiled files, once with +the compiled files left by the previous test run). The test set +produces some output. You can generally ignore the messages about +skipped tests due to optional features which can't be imported. +If a message is printed about a failed test or a traceback or core +dump is produced, something is wrong. On some Linux systems (those +that are not yet using glibc 6), test_strftime fails due to a +non-standard implementation of strftime() in the C library. Please +ignore this, or upgrade to glibc version 6. + +IMPORTANT: If the tests fail and you decide to mail a bug report, +*don't* include the output of "make test". It is useless. Run the +failing test manually, as follows: + + ./python ./Lib/test/test_whatever.py + +(substituting the top of the source tree for '.' if you built in a +different directory). This runs the test in verbose mode. + + +Installing +---------- + +To install the Python binary, library modules, shared library modules +(see below), include files, configuration files, and the manual page, +just type + + make install + +This will install all platform-independent files in subdirectories of +the directory given with the --prefix option to configure or to the +`prefix' Make variable (default /usr/local). All binary and other +platform-specific files will be installed in subdirectories if the +directory given by --exec-prefix or the `exec_prefix' Make variable +(defaults to the --prefix directory) is given. + +If DESTDIR is set, it will be taken as the root directory of the +installation, and files will be installed into $(DESTDIR)$(prefix), +$(DESTDIR)$(exec_prefix), etc. + +All subdirectories created will have Python's version number in their +name, e.g. the library modules are installed in +"/usr/local/lib/python/" by default, where is the +. release number (e.g. "2.1"). The Python binary is +installed as "python" and a hard link named "python" is +created. The only file not installed with a version number in its +name is the manual page, installed as "/usr/local/man/man1/python.1" +by default. + +If you want to install multiple versions of Python see the section below +entitled "Installing multiple versions". + +The only thing you may have to install manually is the Python mode for +Emacs found in Misc/python-mode.el. (But then again, more recent +versions of Emacs may already have it.) Follow the instructions that +came with Emacs for installation of site-specific files. + +On Mac OS X, if you have configured Python with --enable-framework, you +should use "make frameworkinstall" to do the installation. Note that this +installs the Python executable in a place that is not normally on your +PATH, you may want to set up a symlink in /usr/local/bin. + + +Installing multiple versions +---------------------------- + +On Unix and Mac systems if you intend to install multiple versions of Python +using the same installation prefix (--prefix argument to the configure +script) you must take care that your primary python executable is not +overwritten by the installation of a different versio. All files and +directories installed using "make altinstall" contain the major and minor +version and can thus live side-by-side. "make install" also creates +${prefix}/bin/python which refers to ${prefix}/bin/pythonX.Y. If you intend +to install multiple versions using the same prefix you must decide which +version (if any) is your "primary" version. Install that version using +"make install". Install all other versions using "make altinstall". + +For example, if you want to install Python 2.5, 2.6 and 3.0 with 2.6 being +the primary version, you would execute "make install" in your 2.6 build +directory and "make altinstall" in the others. + + +Configuration options and variables +----------------------------------- + +Some special cases are handled by passing options to the configure +script. + +WARNING: if you rerun the configure script with different options, you +must run "make clean" before rebuilding. Exceptions to this rule: +after changing --prefix or --exec-prefix, all you need to do is remove +Modules/getpath.o. + +--with(out)-gcc: The configure script uses gcc (the GNU C compiler) if + it finds it. If you don't want this, or if this compiler is + installed but broken on your platform, pass the option + --without-gcc. You can also pass "CC=cc" (or whatever the + name of the proper C compiler is) in the environment, but the + advantage of using --without-gcc is that this option is + remembered by the config.status script for its --recheck + option. + +--prefix, --exec-prefix: If you want to install the binaries and the + Python library somewhere else than in /usr/local/{bin,lib}, + you can pass the option --prefix=DIRECTORY; the interpreter + binary will be installed as DIRECTORY/bin/python and the + library files as DIRECTORY/lib/python/*. If you pass + --exec-prefix=DIRECTORY (as well) this overrides the + installation prefix for architecture-dependent files (like the + interpreter binary). Note that --prefix=DIRECTORY also + affects the default module search path (sys.path), when + Modules/config.c is compiled. Passing make the option + prefix=DIRECTORY (and/or exec_prefix=DIRECTORY) overrides the + prefix set at configuration time; this may be more convenient + than re-running the configure script if you change your mind + about the install prefix. + +--with-readline: This option is no longer supported. GNU + readline is automatically enabled by setup.py when present. + +--with-threads: On most Unix systems, you can now use multiple + threads, and support for this is enabled by default. To + disable this, pass --with-threads=no. If the library required + for threads lives in a peculiar place, you can use + --with-thread=DIRECTORY. IMPORTANT: run "make clean" after + changing (either enabling or disabling) this option, or you + will get link errors! Note: for DEC Unix use + --with-dec-threads instead. + +--with-sgi-dl: On SGI IRIX 4, dynamic loading of extension modules is + supported by the "dl" library by Jack Jansen, which is + ftp'able from ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-1.6.tar.Z. + This is enabled (after you've ftp'ed and compiled the dl + library) by passing --with-sgi-dl=DIRECTORY where DIRECTORY + is the absolute pathname of the dl library. (Don't bother on + IRIX 5, it already has dynamic linking using SunOS style + shared libraries.) THIS OPTION IS UNSUPPORTED. + +--with-dl-dld: Dynamic loading of modules is rumored to be supported + on some other systems: VAX (Ultrix), Sun3 (SunOS 3.4), Sequent + Symmetry (Dynix), and Atari ST. This is done using a + combination of the GNU dynamic loading package + (ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-dld-1.1.tar.Z) and an + emulation of the SGI dl library mentioned above (the emulation + can be found at + ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dld-3.2.3.tar.Z). To + enable this, ftp and compile both libraries, then call + configure, passing it the option + --with-dl-dld=DL_DIRECTORY,DLD_DIRECTORY where DL_DIRECTORY is + the absolute pathname of the dl emulation library and + DLD_DIRECTORY is the absolute pathname of the GNU dld library. + (Don't bother on SunOS 4 or 5, they already have dynamic + linking using shared libraries.) THIS OPTION IS UNSUPPORTED. + +--with-libm, --with-libc: It is possible to specify alternative + versions for the Math library (default -lm) and the C library + (default the empty string) using the options + --with-libm=STRING and --with-libc=STRING, respectively. For + example, if your system requires that you pass -lc_s to the C + compiler to use the shared C library, you can pass + --with-libc=-lc_s. These libraries are passed after all other + libraries, the C library last. + +--with-libs='libs': Add 'libs' to the LIBS that the python interpreter + is linked against. + +--with-cxx-main=: If you plan to use C++ extension modules, + then -- on some platforms -- you need to compile python's main() + function with the C++ compiler. With this option, make will use + to compile main() *and* to link the python executable. + It is likely that the resulting executable depends on the C++ + runtime library of . (The default is --without-cxx-main.) + + There are platforms that do not require you to build Python + with a C++ compiler in order to use C++ extension modules. + E.g., x86 Linux with ELF shared binaries and GCC 3.x, 4.x is such + a platform. We recommend that you configure Python + --without-cxx-main on those platforms because a mismatch + between the C++ compiler version used to build Python and to + build a C++ extension module is likely to cause a crash at + runtime. + + The Python installation also stores the variable CXX that + determines, e.g., the C++ compiler distutils calls by default + to build C++ extensions. If you set CXX on the configure command + line to any string of non-zero length, then configure won't + change CXX. If you do not preset CXX but pass + --with-cxx-main=, then configure sets CXX=. + In all other cases, configure looks for a C++ compiler by + some common names (c++, g++, gcc, CC, cxx, cc++, cl) and sets + CXX to the first compiler it finds. If it does not find any + C++ compiler, then it sets CXX="". + + Similarly, if you want to change the command used to link the + python executable, then set LINKCC on the configure command line. + + +--with-pydebug: Enable additional debugging code to help track down + memory management problems. This allows printing a list of all + live objects when the interpreter terminates. + +--with(out)-universal-newlines: enable reading of text files with + foreign newline convention (default: enabled). In other words, + any of \r, \n or \r\n is acceptable as end-of-line character. + If enabled import and execfile will automatically accept any newline + in files. Python code can open a file with open(file, 'U') to + read it in universal newline mode. THIS OPTION IS UNSUPPORTED. + +--with-tsc: Profile using the Pentium timestamping counter (TSC). + +--with-system-ffi: Build the _ctypes extension module using an ffi + library installed on the system. + + +Building for multiple architectures (using the VPATH feature) +------------------------------------------------------------- + +If your file system is shared between multiple architectures, it +usually is not necessary to make copies of the sources for each +architecture you want to support. If the make program supports the +VPATH feature, you can create an empty build directory for each +architecture, and in each directory run the configure script (on the +appropriate machine with the appropriate options). This creates the +necessary subdirectories and the Makefiles therein. The Makefiles +contain a line VPATH=... which points to a directory containing the +actual sources. (On SGI systems, use "smake -J1" instead of "make" if +you use VPATH -- don't try gnumake.) + +For example, the following is all you need to build a minimal Python +in /usr/tmp/python (assuming ~guido/src/python is the toplevel +directory and you want to build in /usr/tmp/python): + + $ mkdir /usr/tmp/python + $ cd /usr/tmp/python + $ ~guido/src/python/configure + [...] + $ make + [...] + $ + +Note that configure copies the original Setup file to the build +directory if it finds no Setup file there. This means that you can +edit the Setup file for each architecture independently. For this +reason, subsequent changes to the original Setup file are not tracked +automatically, as they might overwrite local changes. To force a copy +of a changed original Setup file, delete the target Setup file. (The +makesetup script supports multiple input files, so if you want to be +fancy you can change the rules to create an empty Setup.local if it +doesn't exist and run it with arguments $(srcdir)/Setup Setup.local; +however this assumes that you only need to add modules.) + +Also note that you can't use a workspace for VPATH and non VPATH builds. The +object files left behind by one version confuses the other. + + +Building on non-UNIX systems +---------------------------- + +For Windows (2000/NT/ME/98/95), assuming you have MS VC++ 7.1, the +project files are in PCbuild, the workspace is pcbuild.dsw. See +PCbuild\readme.txt for detailed instructions. + +For other non-Unix Windows compilers, in particular MS VC++ 6.0 and +for OS/2, enter the directory "PC" and read the file "readme.txt". + +For the Mac, a separate source distribution will be made available, +for use with the CodeWarrior compiler. If you are interested in Mac +development, join the PythonMac Special Interest Group +(http://www.python.org/sigs/pythonmac-sig/, or send email to +pythonmac-sig-request@python.org). + +Of course, there are also binary distributions available for these +platforms -- see http://www.python.org/. + +To port Python to a new non-UNIX system, you will have to fake the +effect of running the configure script manually (for Mac and PC, this +has already been done for you). A good start is to copy the file +pyconfig.h.in to pyconfig.h and edit the latter to reflect the actual +configuration of your system. Most symbols must simply be defined as +1 only if the corresponding feature is present and can be left alone +otherwise; however the *_t type symbols must be defined as some +variant of int if they need to be defined at all. + +For all platforms, it's important that the build arrange to define the +preprocessor symbol NDEBUG on the compiler command line in a release +build of Python (else assert() calls remain in the code, hurting +release-build performance). The Unix, Windows and Mac builds already +do this. + + +Miscellaneous issues +==================== + +Emacs mode +---------- + +There's an excellent Emacs editing mode for Python code; see the file +Misc/python-mode.el. Originally written by the famous Tim Peters, it +is now maintained by the equally famous Barry Warsaw (it's no +coincidence that they now both work on the same team). The latest +version, along with various other contributed Python-related Emacs +goodies, is online at http://www.python.org/emacs/python-mode. And +if you are planning to edit the Python C code, please pick up the +latest version of CC Mode http://www.python.org/emacs/cc-mode; it +contains a "python" style used throughout most of the Python C source +files. (Newer versions of Emacs or XEmacs may already come with the +latest version of python-mode.) + + +Tkinter +------- + +The setup.py script automatically configures this when it detects a +usable Tcl/Tk installation. This requires Tcl/Tk version 8.0 or +higher. + +For more Tkinter information, see the Tkinter Resource page: +http://www.python.org/topics/tkinter/ + +There are demos in the Demo/tkinter directory. + +Note that there's a Python module called "Tkinter" (capital T) which +lives in Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py, and a C module called "_tkinter" +(lower case t and leading underscore) which lives in +Modules/_tkinter.c. Demos and normal Tk applications import only the +Python Tkinter module -- only the latter imports the C _tkinter +module. In order to find the C _tkinter module, it must be compiled +and linked into the Python interpreter -- the setup.py script does +this. In order to find the Python Tkinter module, sys.path must be +set correctly -- normal installation takes care of this. + + +Distribution structure +---------------------- + +Most subdirectories have their own README files. Most files have +comments. + +Demo/ Demonstration scripts, modules and programs +Doc/ Documentation sources (reStructuredText) +Grammar/ Input for the parser generator +Include/ Public header files +LICENSE Licensing information +Lib/ Python library modules +Mac/ Macintosh specific resources +Makefile.pre.in Source from which config.status creates the Makefile.pre +Misc/ Miscellaneous useful files +Modules/ Implementation of most built-in modules +Objects/ Implementation of most built-in object types +PC/ Files specific to PC ports (DOS, Windows, OS/2) +PCbuild/ Build directory for Microsoft Visual C++ +Parser/ The parser and tokenizer and their input handling +Python/ The byte-compiler and interpreter +README The file you're reading now +RISCOS/ Files specific to RISC OS port +Tools/ Some useful programs written in Python +pyconfig.h.in Source from which pyconfig.h is created (GNU autoheader output) +configure Configuration shell script (GNU autoconf output) +configure.in Configuration specification (input for GNU autoconf) +install-sh Shell script used to install files +setup.py Python script used to build extension modules + +The following files will (may) be created in the toplevel directory by +the configuration and build processes: + +Makefile Build rules +Makefile.pre Build rules before running Modules/makesetup +buildno Keeps track of the build number +config.cache Cache of configuration variables +pyconfig.h Configuration header +config.log Log from last configure run +config.status Status from last run of the configure script +getbuildinfo.o Object file from Modules/getbuildinfo.c +libpython.a The library archive +python The executable interpreter +reflog.txt Output from running the regression suite with the -R flag +tags, TAGS Tags files for vi and Emacs + + +That's all, folks! +------------------ + + +--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)