Python for BeOS R5
This directory contains several useful things to help you build your own
version of Python for BeOS.
What's Here?
ar-fake - A shell script used by the build process to emulate a "real"
POSIX ar command; helps to build the Python shared library.
dl_export.h - A header defining the evil magic declaration decorations
required for dynamic loading.
linkcc - A shell script used by the build process to build the Python
shared library.
linkmodule - A shell script used by the build process to build the
shared library versions of the standard modules; you'll
probably need this if you want to build dynamically loaded
modules from the Python archives.
README - This file (obviously!).
README.readline-2.2 - Instructions for compiling/installing GNU readline 2.2.
You'll have to grab the GNU readline source code from
prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/GNU or any other GNU mirror.
The Python interpreter is much nicer to work with
interactively if you've got readline installed. Highly
recommended.
Compiling Your Own Version
To compile your own version of Python 1.5.x for BeOS (with any luck,
Python 1.5.2 and later will compile "out of the box" on BeOS), try this:
1) Get the latest Python source code from ftp.python.org.
2) Configure with:
./configure --verbose --prefix=/boot/home/config --with-thread
3) Copy Modules/Setup.in to Modules/Setup.
4) Edit Modules/Setup to turn on all the modules you want built.
Make sure you use _socket instead of socket for the name of the
socketmodule on BeOS (at least, until we get the new BONE networking).
If you want the modules to be built as shared libraries, instead of as
part of the Python shared library, be sure to uncomment the #*shared*
line. I haven't done much testing with static linking, it's not as
interesting.
I've tried the following modules:
array audioop binascii cmath _codecs cPickle crypt cStringIO _curses
errno fcntl gdbm grp imageop _locale math md5 new operator parser
pcre posix pwd pyexpat readline regex rgbimg rotor select sha signal
_socket soundex _sre strop struct syslog termios time timing ucnhash
unicodedata zlib
Note that some of these require extra libraries that aren't supplied
with Python. If you don't have the extra libs (you can probably get
them from GeekGadgets), don't try to use these modules; they won't
compile.
5) Make:
make
6) Test:
make test
test_popen2 will probably hang; it's deadlocked on a semaphore. I should
probably disable popen2 support... it uses fork(), and fork() doesn't mix
with threads on BeOS. In *THEORY* you could use it in a single-threaded
program, but I haven't tried.
If test_popen2 does hang, you can find the semaphore it's hung on via the
"ps" command. Look for python and you'll find something like this:
./python -tt ../src/Lib/test/regrtest.py (team 26922) (uid 0) (gid 0)
39472 python sem 10 3785 1500 piperd(360526)
./python -tt ../src/Lib/test/regrtest.py (team 26923) (uid 0) (gid 0)
39477 python sem 10 25 4 python lock (1)(360022)
^^^^^^
That last number is the semaphore the fork()'d python is stuck on
(see how it's helpfully called "python lock (1)"? :-). You can unblock
that semaphore to let the tests continue using the "release" command
with that semaphore number. Be _very_ careful with "release" though,
releasing the wrong semaphore can be hazardous.
Expect the following errors:
test * skipped -- an optional feature could not be imported (you'll see
quite a few of these, based on what optional modules
you've included)
test test_fork1 skipped -- can't mix os.fork with threads on BeOS
test test_re failed -- Writing: '=== Failed incorrectly', expected:
"('abc', 'abc', 0, 'fou"
test test_select crashed -- select.error : (-2147459072, 'Bad file
descriptor')
test test_socket crashed -- exceptions.AttributeError : SOCK_RAW
These are all due to either partial support for certain things (like
sockets), or valid differences between systems.
That test_re failure is a little worrysome though.
7) Install:
make install
8) Enjoy!
- Chris Herborth (chrish@pobox.com)
July 21, 2000
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