blob: 3e47a0c86f7e21eecf6ec583fc57e1ef585955c9 [file] [log] [blame]
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +00001This is Python version 2.0 beta 1
2=================================
Guido van Rossum91447632000-04-11 17:11:09 +00003
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +00004Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
5All rights reserved.
6
7Copyright (c) 1995-2000 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
8All rights reserved.
9
Guido van Rossum6ebd2992000-09-03 04:47:47 +000010Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000011All rights reserved.
12
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000013
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000014License information
15-------------------
16
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000017See the file "LICENSE" for information on the history of this
18software, terms & conditions for usage, and a DISCLAIMER OF ALL
19WARRANTIES.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000020
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000021This Python distribution contains no GNU General Public Licensed
22(GPLed) code so it may be used in proprietary projects just like prior
23Python distributions. There are interfaces to some GNU code but these
24are entirely optional.
25
26All trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective
27holders.
Guido van Rossum79808261997-12-11 18:01:47 +000028
29
Guido van Rossum8d7d4ed1996-07-30 21:41:07 +000030What's new in this release?
31---------------------------
Guido van Rossum3ff96dd1996-07-30 18:05:04 +000032
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000033See the file "Misc/NEWS"; see also this URL:
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000034http://www.pythonlabs.com/tech/python2.html
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +000035
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +000036
37If you don't read instructions
38------------------------------
39
40Congratulations on getting this far. :-)
41
42To start building right away (on UNIX): type "./configure" in the
43current directory and when it finishes, type "make". The section
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000044`Build Instructions' below is still recommended reading, especially
45the part on customizing Modules/Setup.
Guido van Rossum3ff96dd1996-07-30 18:05:04 +000046
47
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000048What is Python anyway?
49----------------------
50
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000051Python is an interpreted object-oriented programming language suitable
52(amongst other uses) for distributed application development,
53scripting, numeric computing and system testing. Python is often
54compared to Tcl, Perl, Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic or Scheme. To
55find out more about what Python can do for you, point your browser to
56http://www.pythonlabs.com/.
57
Guido van Rossum7a12ef32000-09-05 20:04:35 +000058BeOpen.com offers corporate support, custom development and
59sponsorships for Python. Contact <sales@beopen.com> for more
60information.
61
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000062BeOpen Python releases include pre-built Python executables for major
63platforms and are available from PythonLabs.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000064
65
Guido van Rossumf501b4e1996-10-25 14:32:48 +000066How do I learn Python?
67----------------------
68
Fred Drake0e6444c1999-05-17 19:35:01 +000069The official tutorial is still a good place to start; see
Guido van Rossumd0a42e22000-03-31 20:16:45 +000070http://www.python.org/doc/ for online and downloadable versions, as
71well as a list of other introductions, and reference documentation.
Guido van Rossumf501b4e1996-10-25 14:32:48 +000072
Guido van Rossumd0a42e22000-03-31 20:16:45 +000073There's a quickly growing set of books on Python. See
74http://www.python.org/psa/bookstore/ for a list.
Guido van Rossum8d90f9d1997-05-22 20:13:25 +000075
Guido van Rossumf501b4e1996-10-25 14:32:48 +000076
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000077Documentation
78-------------
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000079
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000080All documentation is provided online in a variety of formats. In
81order of importance for new users: Tutorial, Library Reference,
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000082Language Reference, Extending & Embedding, and the Python/C API. The
83Library Reference is especially of immense value since much of
84Python's power is described there, including the built-in data types
85and functions!
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000086
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000087All documentation is also available online at the Python web site
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000088(http://www.python.org/doc/, see below). It is available online for
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000089occasional reference, or can be downloaded in many formats for faster
90access. The documentation is available in HTML, PostScript, PDF, HTML
91Help, and LaTeX formats; the LaTeX version is primarily for
92documentation authors or people with special formatting requirements.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000093
94
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000095Web sites
96---------
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000097
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000098New Python releases and related technologies are published at
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000099http://www.pythonlabs.com/. Come visit us!
100
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000101The present Python community web site is http://www.python.org/.
102BeOpen.com is developing a next-generation community site for Python
103and is looking for volunteers to help make this an even better
104resource than the existing community site. If you know Python well
105and would like to volunteer to work with us on this project, please
106contact <volunteer@pythonlabs.com> with a summary of your skills.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000107
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000108
109Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
110----------------------------
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000111
112Read comp.lang.python, a high-volume discussion newsgroup about
113Python, or comp.lang.python.announce, a low-volume moderated newsgroup
114for Python-related announcements. These are also accessible as
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000115mailing lists: see http://www.python.org/psa/MailingLists.html for an
116overview of the many Python-related mailing lists.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000117
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000118Archives are accessible via Deja.com Usenet News: see
119http://www.deja.com/usenet. The mailing lists are also archived, see
120http://www.python.org/psa/MailingLists.html for details.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000121
122
123Bug reports
124-----------
125
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000126To report or search for bugs, please use the Python Bug
127Tracker at http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000128
129
130Patches and contributions
131-------------------------
132
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000133To submit a patch or other contribution, please use the Python
134Patch Manager at http://sourceforge.net/patch/?group_id=5470.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000135
136If you have a proposal to change Python, it's best to submit a Python
137Enhancement Proposal (PEP) first. All current PEPs, as well as
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000138guidelines for submitting a new PEP, are list at
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000139http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/.
140
141
142Questions
143---------
144
145For help, if you can't find it in the manuals or on the web site, it's
146best to post to the comp.lang.python or the Python mailing list (see
147above). If you specifically don't want to involve the newsgroup or
148mailing list, send questions to <help@python.org> (a group of
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000149volunteers who answer questions as they can). The newsgroup is the
150most efficient way to ask public questions.
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000151
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000152
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000153Build instructions
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000154==================
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000155
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000156Before you can build Python, you must first configure it. Fortunately,
157the configuration and build process has been streamlined for most Unix
158installations, so all you have to do is type a few commands,
159optionally edit one file, and sit back. There are some platforms
160where things are not quite as smooth; see the platform specific notes
161below. If you want to build for multiple platforms sharing the same
162source tree, see the section on VPATH below.
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000163
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000164You start by running the script "./configure", which determines your
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000165system configuration and creates several Makefiles. (It takes a
166minute or two -- please be patient!) When it's done, you are ready to
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000167run make. You may want to pass options to the configure script, or
168edit the Setup file -- see the section below on configuration options
169and variables.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000170
171To build Python, you normally type "make" in the toplevel directory.
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000172This will recursively run make in each of the subdirectories: Grammar,
173Parser, Objects, Python and Modules, creating a library file in each
174one (except Grammar). The interpreter executable is built in the top
175level directory. If you want or need to, you can also chdir into each
176subdirectory in turn and run make there manually (do the Modules
177subdirectory last; you must use "make all sharedmods" to build the
178dynamically loadable modules, if you have any).
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000179
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000180Once you have built a Python interpreter, see the subsections below on
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000181testing, configuring additional modules, and installation. If you run
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000182into trouble, see the next section.
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000183
Guido van Rossum0a516c91994-09-12 10:58:40 +0000184
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000185Troubleshooting
186---------------
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000187
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000188See also the platform specific notes in the next section.
189
Guido van Rossumfaf681a1996-06-20 14:32:08 +0000190If recursive makes fail, try invoking make as "make MAKE=make".
191
Guido van Rossum49523691997-08-15 18:30:14 +0000192If you run into other trouble, see section 3 of the FAQ
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000193(http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw.py or
Guido van Rossum49523691997-08-15 18:30:14 +0000194http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html) for hints on what can go wrong,
195and how to fix it.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000196
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000197If you rerun the configure script with different options, remove all
198object files by running "make clean" before rebuilding. Believe it or
199not, "make clean" sometimes helps to clean up other inexplicable
200problems as well. Try it before sending in a bug report!
201
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000202If the configure script fails or doesn't seem to find things that
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000203should be there, inspect the config.log file. When you fix a
204configure problem, be sure to remove config.cache!
205
206If you get a warning for every file about the -Olimit option being no
207longer supported, you can ignore it. There's no foolproof way to know
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000208whether this option is needed; all we can do is test whether it is
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000209accepted without error. On some systems, e.g. older SGI compilers, it
210is essential for performance (specifically when compiling ceval.c,
211which has more basic blocks than the default limit of 1000). If the
212warning bothers you, edit the Makefile to remove "-Olimit 1500" from
213the OPT variable.
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000214
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000215If you get failures in test_long, or sys.maxint gets set to -1, you
216are probably experiencing compiler bugs, usually related to
217optimization. This is a common problem with some versions of gcc and
218egcs, and some vendor-supplied compilers, which can sometimes be
219worked around by turning off optimization. Consider switching to
220stable versions (gcc 2.7.2.3, egcs 1.1.2, or contact your vendor.)
221
222From Python 2.0 onward, all Python C code is ANSI C. Compiling using
223old K&R-C-only compilers is no longer possible. ANSI C compilers are
224available for all modern systems, either in the form of updated
225compilers from the vendor, or one of the free compilers (gcc, egcs).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000226
227Platform specific notes
228-----------------------
229
Guido van Rossum0447a321995-10-08 01:22:33 +0000230(Some of these may no longer apply. If you find you can build Python
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000231on these platforms without the special directions mentioned here, mail
232to <python@pythonlabs.com> so we can remove them!)
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000233
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +000023464-bit platforms: The modules audioop, imageop and rgbimg don't work.
235 Don't try to enable them in the Modules/Setup file. They
236 contain code that is quite wordsize sensitive. (If you have a
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000237 fix, let us know!)
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000238
Guido van Rossum4462e931997-01-22 21:00:32 +0000239Solaris: When using Sun's C compiler with threads, at least on Solaris
240 2.5.1, you need to add the "-mt" compiler option (the simplest
241 way is probably to specify the compiler with this option as
242 the "CC" environment variable when running the configure
243 script).
244
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000245Linux: A problem with threads and fork() was tracked down to a bug in
246 the pthreads code in glibc version 2.0.5; glibc version 2.0.7
247 solves the problem. This causes the popen2 test to fail;
248 problem and solution reported by Pablo Bleyer.
Guido van Rossum4462e931997-01-22 21:00:32 +0000249
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000250 Under Linux systems using GNU libc 2 (aka libc6), the crypt
251 module now needs the -lcrypt option. Uncomment this flag in
252 Modules/Setup, or comment out the crypt module in the same
253 file. Most modern Linux systems use glibc2.
Fred Drake61280911997-12-08 14:10:40 +0000254
Guido van Rossum59230501999-06-21 20:51:46 +0000255FreeBSD 3.x and probably platforms with NCurses that use libmytinfo or
256 similar: When using cursesmodule, the linking is not done in
257 the correct order with the defaults. Remove "-ltermcap" from
258 the readline entry in Setup, and use as curses entry: "curses
259 cursesmodule.c -lmytinfo -lncurses -ltermcap" - "mytinfo" (so
260 called on FreeBSD) should be the name of the auxiliary library
261 required on your platform. Normally, it would be linked
262 automatically, but not necessarily in the correct order.
263
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000264BSDI: BSDI versions before 4.1 have known problems with threads,
265 which can cause strange errors in a number of modules (for
266 instance, the 'test_signal' test script will hang forever.)
267 Turning off threads (with --with-threads=no) or upgrading to
268 BSDI 4.1 solves this problem.
269
270DEC Unix: Run configure with --with-dec-threads, or with
271 --with-threads=no if no threads are desired (threads are on by
272 default). When using GCC, it is possible to get an internal
273 compiler error if optimization is used. This was reported for
274 GCC 2.7.2.3 on selectmodule.c. Manually compile the affected
275 file without optimization to solve the problem.
Guido van Rossum8eca2c21996-02-14 18:37:46 +0000276
Guido van Rossume1cdb161999-04-10 16:04:07 +0000277DEC Ultrix: compile with GCC to avoid bugs in the native compiler,
278 and pass SHELL=/bin/sh5 to Make when installing.
279
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000280AIX: A complete overhaul of the shared library support is now in
Guido van Rossumcbfcb171997-10-20 22:57:00 +0000281 place. See Misc/AIX-NOTES for some notes on how it's done.
Guido van Rossum9ac9a261998-02-16 22:19:21 +0000282 (The optimizer bug reported at this place in previous releases
283 has been worked around by a minimal code change.)
Guido van Rossumed7f9e21999-11-16 16:03:03 +0000284 In addition, Gary Duzan has a hint for C++ users: to enable
285 full C++ module support, set CC="xlC" (or CC="xlC_r" for thread
286 support in AIX 4.2.1).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000287
Guido van Rossum59a88f41999-04-12 18:16:09 +0000288HP-UX: Please read the file Misc/HPUX-NOTES for shared libraries.
289 When using threading, you may have to add -D_REENTRANT to the
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000290 OPT variable in the top-level Makefile; reported by Pat Knight,
Guido van Rossum59a88f41999-04-12 18:16:09 +0000291 this seems to make a difference (at least for HP-UX 10.20)
292 even though config.h defines it.
Guido van Rossum2094e041998-05-14 15:47:35 +0000293
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000294Minix: When using ack, use "CC=cc AR=aal RANLIB=: ./configure"!
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000295
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000296SCO: The following apply to SCO 3 only; Python builds out of the box
297 on SCO 5 (or so we've heard).
Guido van Rossuma16e2751998-04-13 20:14:05 +0000298
299 1) Everything works much better if you add -U__STDC__ to the
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000300 defs. This is because all the SCO header files are broken.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000301 Anything that isn't mentioned in the C standard is
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000302 conditionally excluded when __STDC__ is defined.
303
304 2) Due to the U.S. export restrictions, SCO broke the crypt
305 stuff out into a separate library, libcrypt_i.a so the LIBS
306 needed be set to:
307
308 LIBS=' -lsocket -lcrypt_i'
309
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000310SunOS 4.x: When using the SunPro C compiler, you may want to use the
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000311 '-Xa' option instead of '-Xc', to enable some needed non-ANSI
312 Sunisms.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000313
Guido van Rossumcc55c2d1996-10-21 15:14:27 +0000314NeXT: To build fat binaries, use the --with-next-archs switch
315 described below.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000316
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000317QNX: Chris Herborth (chrish@qnx.com) writes:
318 configure works best if you use GNU bash; a port is available on
319 ftp.qnx.com in /usr/free. I used the following process to build,
Guido van Rossumd4493421998-12-22 16:37:01 +0000320 test and install Python 1.5.x under QNX:
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000321
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000322 1) CONFIG_SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash CC=cc RANLIB=: \
323 ./configure --verbose --without-gcc --with-libm=""
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000324
325 2) copy Modules/Setup.in to Modules/Setup; edit Modules/Setup to
326 activate everything that makes sense for your system... tested
327 here at QNX with the following modules:
328
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000329 array, audioop, binascii, cPickle, cStringIO, cmath,
330 crypt, curses, errno, fcntl, gdbm, grp, imageop,
331 _locale, math, md5, new, operator, parser, pcre,
332 posix, pwd, readline, regex, reop, rgbimg, rotor,
333 select, signal, socket, soundex, strop, struct,
Guido van Rossumd4493421998-12-22 16:37:01 +0000334 syslog, termios, time, timing, zlib, audioop, imageop, rgbimg
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000335
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000336 3) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash
337
338 or, if you feel the need for speed:
339
340 make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash OPT="-5 -Oil+nrt"
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000341
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000342 4) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash test
343
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000344 Using GNU readline 2.2 seems to behave strangely, but I
345 think that's a problem with my readline 2.2 port. :-\
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000346
347 5) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash install
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000348
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000349 If you get SIGSEGVs while running Python (I haven't yet, but
350 I've only run small programs and the test cases), you're
351 probably running out of stack; the default 32k could be a
352 little tight. To increase the stack size, edit the Makefile
353 in the Modules directory to read: LDFLAGS = -N 48k
Guido van Rossum40d63581997-08-14 19:45:30 +0000354
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000355BeOS: Chris Herborth (chrish@qnx.com) writes:
356 See BeOS/README for notes about compiling/installing Python on
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000357 BeOS R3 or later. Note that only the PowerPC platform is
Guido van Rossumd4493421998-12-22 16:37:01 +0000358 supported for R3; both PowerPC and x86 are supported for R4.
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000359
Guido van Rossum1bf0bf41997-08-20 23:50:51 +0000360Cray T3E: Konrad Hinsen writes:
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000361 1) Don't use gcc. It compiles Python/graminit.c into something
362 that the Cray assembler doesn't like. Cray's cc seems to work
363 fine.
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000364 2) Comment out modules md5 (won't compile) and audioop (will
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000365 crash the interpreter during the test suite).
366 If you run the test suite, two tests will fail (rotate and
367 binascii), but these are not the modules you'd expect to need
368 on a Cray.
Guido van Rossum1bf0bf41997-08-20 23:50:51 +0000369
Guido van Rossum0078aaf1997-08-21 03:05:11 +0000370SGI: SGI's standard "make" utility (/bin/make or /usr/bin/make)
371 does not check whether a command actually changed the file it
372 is supposed to build. This means that whenever you say "make"
373 it will redo the link step. The remedy is to use SGI's much
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000374 smarter "smake " utility (/usr/sbin/smake), or GNU make. If
375 you set the first line of the Makefile to #!/usr/sbin/smake
376 smake will be invoked by make (likewise for GNU make).
Guido van Rossum0078aaf1997-08-21 03:05:11 +0000377
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000378OS/2: If you are running Warp3 or Warp4 and have IBM's VisualAge C/C++
379 compiler installed, just change into the pc\os2vacpp directory
380 and type NMAKE. Threading and sockets are supported by default
381 in the resulting binaries of PYTHON15.DLL and PYTHON.EXE.
382
Trent Mick635f6fb2000-08-23 21:33:05 +0000383Monterey (64-bit AIX):
384 The current Monterey C compiler (Visual Age) uses the OBJECT_MODE={32|64}
385 environment variable to set the compilation mode to either 32-bit or
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000386 64-bit (32-bit mode is the default). Presumably you want 64-bit
387 compilation mode for this 64-bit OS. As a result you must first set
388 OBJECT_MODE=64 in your environment before configuring (./configure) or
Trent Mick635f6fb2000-08-23 21:33:05 +0000389 building (make) Python on Monterey.
390
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000391
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000392Configuring threads
393-------------------
394
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000395As of Python 2.0, threads are enabled by default. If you wish to
396compile without threads, or if your thread support is broken, pass the
397--with-threads=no switch to configure. Unfortunately, on some
398platforms, additional compiler and/or linker options are required for
399threads to work properly. Below is a table of those options,
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000400collected by Bill Janssen. We would love to automate this process
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000401more, but the information below is not enough to write a patch for the
402configure.in file, so manual intervention is required. If you patch
403the configure.in file and are confident that the patch works, please
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000404send in the patch. (Don't bother patching the configure script itself
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000405-- it is regenerated each the configure.in file changes.)
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000406
407Compiler switches for threads
408.............................
409
410 OS/Compiler/threads Switches for use with threads
411 (POSIX is draft 10, DCE is draft 4) (1) compile only (2) compile & link
412
413 SunOS 5.{1-5}/{gcc,SunPro cc}/solaris (1) -D_REENTRANT (2) -mt
414 SunOS 5.5/{gcc,SunPro cc}/POSIX (1) -D_REENTRANT
415 DEC OSF/1 3.x/cc/DCE (1) -D_REENTRANT (2) -threads
416 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
417 Digital UNIX 4.x/cc/DCE (1) -D_REENTRANT (2) -threads
418 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
419 Digital UNIX 4.x/cc/POSIX (1) -D_REENTRANT (2) -pthread
420 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
421 AIX 4.1.4/cc_r/d7 (nothing)
422 (buhrt@iquest.net)
423 AIX 4.1.4/cc_r4/DCE (nothing)
424 (buhrt@iquest.net)
425 IRIX 6.2/cc/POSIX (nothing)
426 (robertl@cwi.nl)
427
428
429Linker (ld) libraries and flags for threads
430...........................................
431
432 OS/threads Libraries/switches for use with threads
433
434 SunOS 5.{1-5}/solaris -lthread
435 SunOS 5.5/POSIX -lpthread
436 DEC OSF/1 3.x/DCE -lpthreads -lmach -lc_r -lc
437 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
438 Digital UNIX 4.x/DCE -lpthreads -lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc
439 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
440 Digital UNIX 4.x/POSIX -lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc
441 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
442 AIX 4.1.4/{draft7,DCE} (nothing)
443 (buhrt@iquest.net)
444 IRIX 6.2/POSIX -lpthread
445 (jph@emilia.engr.sgi.com)
446
447
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000448Configuring additional built-in modules
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000449---------------------------------------
Guido van Rossum19e0c261995-01-17 16:36:34 +0000450
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000451You can configure the interpreter to contain fewer or more built-in
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000452modules by editing the Modules/Setup file. This file is initially
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000453copied (when the toplevel Makefile makes Modules/Makefile for the
454first time) from Setup.in; if it does not exist yet, make a copy
455yourself. Never edit Setup.in -- always edit Setup. Read the
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000456comments in the file for information on what kind of edits are
457allowed. When you have edited Setup, Makefile and config.c in the
458Modules directory, the interpreter will automatically be rebuilt the
459next time you run make in the toplevel directory. (When working
460inside the Modules directory, use "make Makefile; make".)
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000461
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000462The default collection of modules should build on any Unix system, but
463many optional modules should work on all modern Unices (e.g. try dbm,
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000464nis, termios, timing, syslog, curses, new, soundex, parser). Often
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000465the quickest way to determine whether a particular module works or not
466is to see if it will build: enable it in Setup, then if you get
467compilation or link errors, disable it -- you're missing support.
468
469On SGI IRIX, there are modules that interface to many SGI specific
470system libraries, e.g. the GL library and the audio hardware.
471
472For SunOS and Solaris, enable module "sunaudiodev" to support the
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000473audio device. Likewise, for Linux systems, enable "linuxaudiodev".
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000474
Guido van Rossum4462e931997-01-22 21:00:32 +0000475In addition to the file Setup, you can also edit the file Setup.local.
476(the makesetup script processes both). You may find it more
477convenient to edit Setup.local and leave Setup alone. Then, when
478installing a new Python version, you can copy your old Setup.local
479file.
480
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000481
482Setting the optimization/debugging options
483------------------------------------------
484
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000485If you want or need to change the optimization/debugging options for
486the C compiler, assign to the OPT variable on the toplevel make
487command; e.g. "make OPT=-g" will build a debugging version of Python
488on most platforms. The default is OPT=-O; a value for OPT in the
489environment when the configure script is run overrides this default
490(likewise for CC; and the initial value for LIBS is used as the base
491set of libraries to link with).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000492
493
494Testing
495-------
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000496
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000497To test the interpreter, type "make test" in the top-level directory.
Guido van Rossum6ae5d3d1997-05-14 21:39:05 +0000498This runs the test set twice (once with no compiled files, once with
499the compiled files left by the previous test run). The test set
500produces some output. You can generally ignore the messages about
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000501skipped tests due to optional features which can't be imported. (If
502you want to test those modules, edit Modules/Setup to configure them.)
503If a message is printed about a failed test or a traceback or core
504dump is produced, something is wrong. On some Linux systems (those
Guido van Rossum24df6841997-12-30 04:32:30 +0000505that are not yet using glibc 6), test_strftime fails due to a
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000506non-standard implementation of strftime() in the C library. Please
507ignore this, or upgrade to glibc version 6.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000508
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000509IMPORTANT: If the tests fail and you decide to mail a bug report,
510*don't* include the output of "make test". It is useless. Run the
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000511failing test manually, as follows:
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000512
Guido van Rossum6ae5d3d1997-05-14 21:39:05 +0000513 python ../Lib/test/test_whatever.py
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000514
515(substituting the top of the source tree for .. if you built in a
Guido van Rossum6ae5d3d1997-05-14 21:39:05 +0000516different directory). This runs the test in verbose mode.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000517
518
519Installing
520----------
521
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000522To install the Python binary, library modules, shared library modules
523(see below), include files, configuration files, and the manual page,
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000524just type
525
526 make install
527
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000528This will install all platform-independent files in subdirectories of
529the directory given with the --prefix option to configure or to the
530`prefix' Make variable (default /usr/local). All binary and other
531platform-specific files will be installed in subdirectories if the
532directory given by --exec-prefix or the `exec_prefix' Make variable
533(defaults to the --prefix directory) is given.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000534
535All subdirectories created will have Python's version number in their
536name, e.g. the library modules are installed in
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000537"/usr/local/lib/python2.0/" by default. The Python binary is
538installed as "python2.0" and a hard link named "python" is created.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000539The only file not installed with a version number in its name is the
540manual page, installed as "/usr/local/man/man1/python.1" by default.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000541
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000542If you have a previous installation of a pre-2.0 Python that you don't
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000543want to replace yet, use
544
545 make altinstall
546
547This installs the same set of files as "make install" except it
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000548doesn't create the hard link to "python2.0" named "python" and it
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000549doesn't install the manual page at all.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000550
551The only thing you may have to install manually is the Python mode for
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000552Emacs found in Misc/python-mode.el. (But then again, more recent
553versions of Emacs may already have it.) Follow the instructions that
554came with Emacs for installation of site-specific files.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000555
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000556
557Configuration options and variables
558-----------------------------------
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000559
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000560Some special cases are handled by passing options to the configure
561script.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000562
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000563WARNING: if you rerun the configure script with different options, you
564must run "make clean" before rebuilding. Exceptions to this rule:
565after changing --prefix or --exec-prefix, all you need to do is remove
Guido van Rossumb06df271997-08-05 21:50:20 +0000566Modules/getpath.o.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000567
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000568--with(out)-gcc: The configure script uses gcc (the GNU C compiler) if
569 it finds it. If you don't want this, or if this compiler is
570 installed but broken on your platform, pass the option
571 --without-gcc. You can also pass "CC=cc" (or whatever the
572 name of the proper C compiler is) in the environment, but the
573 advantage of using --without-gcc is that this option is
574 remembered by the config.status script for its --recheck
575 option.
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000576
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000577--prefix, --exec-prefix: If you want to install the binaries and the
578 Python library somewhere else than in /usr/local/{bin,lib},
579 you can pass the option --prefix=DIRECTORY; the interpreter
580 binary will be installed as DIRECTORY/bin/python and the
581 library files as DIRECTORY/lib/python/*. If you pass
582 --exec-prefix=DIRECTORY (as well) this overrides the
583 installation prefix for architecture-dependent files (like the
584 interpreter binary). Note that --prefix=DIRECTORY also
585 affects the default module search path (sys.path), when
586 Modules/config.c is compiled. Passing make the option
587 prefix=DIRECTORY (and/or exec_prefix=DIRECTORY) overrides the
588 prefix set at configuration time; this may be more convenient
589 than re-running the configure script if you change your mind
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000590 about the install prefix.
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000591
Guido van Rossumb06df271997-08-05 21:50:20 +0000592--with-readline: This option is no longer supported. To use GNU
593 readline, enable module "readline" in the Modules/Setup file.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000594
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000595--with-threads: On most Unix systems, you can now use multiple
596 threads, and support for this is enabled by default. To
597 disable this, pass --with-threads=no. If the library required
598 for threads lives in a peculiar place, you can use
599 --with-thread=DIRECTORY. IMPORTANT: run "make clean" after
600 changing (either enabling or disabling) this option, or you
601 will get link errors! Note: for DEC Unix use
Guido van Rossum0e13da91998-02-22 04:36:34 +0000602 --with-dec-threads instead.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000603
604--with-sgi-dl: On SGI IRIX 4, dynamic loading of extension modules is
605 supported by the "dl" library by Jack Jansen, which is
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000606 ftp'able from ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-1.6.tar.Z.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000607 This is enabled (after you've ftp'ed and compiled the dl
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000608 library) by passing --with-sgi-dl=DIRECTORY where DIRECTORY
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000609 is the absolute pathname of the dl library. (Don't bother on
610 IRIX 5, it already has dynamic linking using SunOS style
611 shared libraries.) Support for this feature is deprecated.
612
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000613--with-dl-dld: Dynamic loading of modules is rumored to be supported
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000614 on some other systems: VAX (Ultrix), Sun3 (SunOS 3.4), Sequent
615 Symmetry (Dynix), and Atari ST. This is done using a
616 combination of the GNU dynamic loading package
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000617 (ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-dld-1.1.tar.Z) and an
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000618 emulation of the SGI dl library mentioned above (the emulation
619 can be found at
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000620 ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dld-3.2.3.tar.Z). To
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000621 enable this, ftp and compile both libraries, then call
622 configure, passing it the option
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000623 --with-dl-dld=DL_DIRECTORY,DLD_DIRECTORY where DL_DIRECTORY is
624 the absolute pathname of the dl emulation library and
625 DLD_DIRECTORY is the absolute pathname of the GNU dld library.
626 (Don't bother on SunOS 4 or 5, they already have dynamic
627 linking using shared libraries.) Support for this feature is
628 deprecated.
629
630--with-libm, --with-libc: It is possible to specify alternative
631 versions for the Math library (default -lm) and the C library
632 (default the empty string) using the options
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000633 --with-libm=STRING and --with-libc=STRING, respectively. For
634 example, if your system requires that you pass -lc_s to the C
635 compiler to use the shared C library, you can pass
636 --with-libc=-lc_s. These libraries are passed after all other
637 libraries, the C library last.
Guido van Rossum3ff96dd1996-07-30 18:05:04 +0000638
639--with-next-archs='arch1 arch2': Under NEXTSTEP, this will build
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000640 all compiled binaries with the architectures listed. This will
641 also correctly set the target architecture-specific resource
Guido van Rossumcc55c2d1996-10-21 15:14:27 +0000642 directory. (This option is not supported on other platforms.)
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000643
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000644--with-libs='libs': Add 'libs' to the LIBS that the python interpreter
645 is linked against.
Guido van Rossumd02ba451996-07-31 17:36:01 +0000646
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000647
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000648Building for multiple architectures (using the VPATH feature)
649-------------------------------------------------------------
650
651If your file system is shared between multiple architectures, it
652usually is not necessary to make copies of the sources for each
653architecture you want to support. If the make program supports the
654VPATH feature, you can create an empty build directory for each
655architecture, and in each directory run the configure script (on the
656appropriate machine with the appropriate options). This creates the
657necessary subdirectories and the Makefiles therein. The Makefiles
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000658contain a line VPATH=... which points to a directory containing the
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000659actual sources. (On SGI systems, use "smake -J1" instead of "make" if
660you use VPATH -- don't try gnumake.)
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000661
662For example, the following is all you need to build a minimal Python
663in /usr/tmp/python (assuming ~guido/src/python is the toplevel
664directory and you want to build in /usr/tmp/python):
665
666 $ mkdir /usr/tmp/python
667 $ cd /usr/tmp/python
668 $ ~guido/src/python/configure
669 [...]
670 $ make
671 [...]
672 $
673
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000674Note that Modules/Makefile copies the original Setup file to the build
675directory if it finds no Setup file there. This means that you can
676edit the Setup file for each architecture independently. For this
677reason, subsequent changes to the original Setup file are not tracked
678automatically, as they might overwrite local changes. To force a copy
679of a changed original Setup file, delete the target Setup file. (The
680makesetup script supports multiple input files, so if you want to be
681fancy you can change the rules to create an empty Setup.local if it
682doesn't exist and run it with arguments $(srcdir)/Setup Setup.local;
683however this assumes that you only need to add modules.)
684
685
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000686Building on non-UNIX systems
687----------------------------
688
Guido van Rossum31ae2071999-04-12 14:47:30 +0000689For Windows 95/98 or NT, assuming you have MS VC++ 5.0 or 6.0, the
690project files are in PCbuild, the workspace is pcbuild.dsw. (The
691project files are for VC++ 5.0, but VC++ 6.0 will convert them for
692you -- start VC++ and then use Open Workspace.)
Guido van Rossum8d7d4ed1996-07-30 21:41:07 +0000693
Guido van Rossum31ae2071999-04-12 14:47:30 +0000694For other non-Unix Windows compilers, in particular Windows 3.1 and
695for OS/2, enter the directory "PC" and read the file "readme.txt".
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000696
697For the Mac, a separate source distribution will be made available,
698for use with the CodeWarrior compiler. If you are interested in Mac
699development, join the PythonMac Special Interest Group
700(http://www.python.org/sigs/pythonmac-sig/, or send email to
701pythonmac-sig-request@python.org).
702
703Of course, there are also binary distributions available for these
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000704platforms -- see http://www.pythonlabs.com/downloads.html.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000705
706To port Python to a new non-UNIX system, you will have to fake the
707effect of running the configure script manually (for Mac and PC, this
708has already been done for you). A good start is to copy the file
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000709config.h.in to config.h and edit the latter to reflect the actual
710configuration of your system. Most symbols must simply be defined as
7111 only if the corresponding feature is present and can be left alone
Tim Peters4f1b2082000-07-23 21:18:09 +0000712otherwise; however the *_t type symbols must be defined as some variant
713of int if they need to be defined at all.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000714
715
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000716
717Miscellaneous issues
718====================
719
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000720Emacs mode
721----------
722
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000723There's an excellent Emacs editing mode for Python code; see the file
724Misc/python-mode.el. Originally written by the famous Tim Peters, it
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000725is now maintained by the equally famous Barry Warsaw (it's no
726coincidence that they now both work at PythonLabs). The latest
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000727version, along with various other contributed Python-related Emacs
728goodies, is online at <http://www.python.org/emacs/python-mode>. And
729if you are planning to edit the Python C code, please pick up the
730latest version of CC Mode <http://www.python.org/emacs/cc-mode>; it
731contains a "python" style used throughout most of the Python C source
732files. (Newer versions of Emacs or XEmacs may already come with the
733latest version of python-mode.)
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000734
735
736The Tk interface
737----------------
738
739Tk (the user interface component of John Ousterhout's Tcl language) is
740also usable from Python. Since this requires that you first build and
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000741install Tcl/Tk, the Tk interface is not enabled by default. Python
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000742supports Tcl/Tk version 8.0 and higher.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000743
Guido van Rossum973e4dc2000-07-01 00:34:39 +0000744See http://dev.ajubasolutions.com/ for more info on Tcl/Tk, including
745the on-line manual pages.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000746
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000747
748To enable the Python/Tk interface, once you've built and installed
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000749Tcl/Tk, load the file Modules/Setup into your favorite text editor and
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000750search for the string "_tkinter". Then follow the instructions found
751there. If you have installed Tcl/Tk or X11 in unusual places, you
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000752will have to edit the first line to fix or add the -I and -L options.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000753(Also see the general instructions at the top of that file.)
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000754
Guido van Rossum973e4dc2000-07-01 00:34:39 +0000755For more Tkinter information, see the Tkinter Resource page:
756http://www.python.org/topics/tkinter/
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000757
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000758There are demos in the Demo/tkinter directory, in the subdirectories
759guido, matt and www (the matt and guido subdirectories have been
760overhauled to use more recent Tkinter coding conventions).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000761
762Note that there's a Python module called "Tkinter" (capital T) which
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000763lives in Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py, and a C module called "_tkinter"
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000764(lower case t and leading underscore) which lives in
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000765Modules/_tkinter.c. Demos and normal Tk applications import only the
766Python Tkinter module -- the latter uses the C _tkinter module
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000767directly. In order to find the C _tkinter module, it must be compiled
768and linked into the Python interpreter -- the _tkinter line in the
769Setup file does this. In order to find the Python Tkinter module,
770sys.path must be set correctly -- the TKPATH assignment in the Setup
771file takes care of this, but only if you install Python properly
772("make install libinstall"). (You can also use dynamic loading for
773the C _tkinter module, in which case you must manually fix up sys.path
774or set $PYTHONPATH for the Python Tkinter module.)
Guido van Rossum84c8c7f1995-08-28 02:44:24 +0000775
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000776
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000777Distribution structure
778----------------------
779
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000780Most subdirectories have their own README files. Most files have
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000781comments.
782
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000783.cvsignore Additional filename matching patterns for CVS to ignore
784BeOS/ Files specific to the BeOS port
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000785Demo/ Demonstration scripts, modules and programs
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000786Doc/ Documentation sources (LaTeX)
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000787Grammar/ Input for the parser generator
788Include/ Public header files
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000789LICENSE Licensing information
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000790Lib/ Python library modules
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000791Makefile.in Source from which config.status creates the Makefile
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000792Misc/ Miscellaneous useful files
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000793Modules/ Implementation of most built-in modules
794Objects/ Implementation of most built-in object types
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000795PC/ Files specific to PC ports (DOS, Windows, OS/2)
796PCbuild/ Build directory for Microsoft Visual C++
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000797Parser/ The parser and tokenizer and their input handling
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000798Python/ The byte-compiler and interpreter
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000799README The file you're reading now
800Tools/ Some useful programs written in Python
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000801acconfig.h Additional input for the GNU autoheader program
802config.h.in Source from which config.h is created (GNU autoheader output)
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000803configure Configuration shell script (GNU autoconf output)
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000804configure.in Configuration specification (input for GNU autoconf)
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000805install-sh Shell script used to install files
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000806
807The following files will (may) be created in the toplevel directory by
808the configuration and build processes:
809
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000810Makefile Build rules
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000811buildno Keeps track of the build number
812config.cache Cache of configuration variables
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000813config.h Configuration header
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000814config.log Log from last configure run
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000815config.status Status from last run of the configure script
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000816getbuildinfo.o Object file from Modules/getbuildinfo.c
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000817libpython2.0.a The library archive
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000818python The executable interpreter
819tags, TAGS Tags files for vi and Emacs
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000820
821
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000822That's all, folks!
823------------------
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000824
825
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000826--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.pythonlabs.com/~guido/)