blob: 83f25e567cb81efa0bbe15fc01991a4ed35b4050 [file] [log] [blame]
Guido van Rossum6db412b2001-04-18 04:37:57 +00001This is Python version 2.2
Jeremy Hyltonb6750812000-10-16 18:26:42 +00002==========================
Guido van Rossum91447632000-04-11 17:11:09 +00003
Guido van Rossuma0ea7c12001-03-22 15:29:37 +00004Copyright (c) 2001 Python Software Foundation.
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +00005All rights reserved.
6
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +00007Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
8All rights reserved.
9
Guido van Rossum23f7aed2001-04-12 20:53:31 +000010Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000011All rights reserved.
12
Guido van Rossum6ebd2992000-09-03 04:47:47 +000013Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000014All rights reserved.
15
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000016
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000017License information
18-------------------
19
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000020See the file "LICENSE" for information on the history of this
21software, terms & conditions for usage, and a DISCLAIMER OF ALL
22WARRANTIES.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000023
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000024This Python distribution contains no GNU General Public Licensed
25(GPLed) code so it may be used in proprietary projects just like prior
26Python distributions. There are interfaces to some GNU code but these
27are entirely optional.
28
29All trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective
30holders.
Guido van Rossum79808261997-12-11 18:01:47 +000031
32
Guido van Rossum8d7d4ed1996-07-30 21:41:07 +000033What's new in this release?
34---------------------------
Guido van Rossum3ff96dd1996-07-30 18:05:04 +000035
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +000036See the file "Misc/NEWS".
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +000037
38If you don't read instructions
39------------------------------
40
41Congratulations on getting this far. :-)
42
43To start building right away (on UNIX): type "./configure" in the
44current directory and when it finishes, type "make". The section
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000045`Build Instructions' below is still recommended reading, especially
46the part on customizing Modules/Setup.
Guido van Rossum3ff96dd1996-07-30 18:05:04 +000047
48
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000049What is Python anyway?
50----------------------
51
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000052Python is an interpreted object-oriented programming language suitable
53(amongst other uses) for distributed application development,
54scripting, numeric computing and system testing. Python is often
55compared to Tcl, Perl, Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic or Scheme. To
56find out more about what Python can do for you, point your browser to
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +000057http://www.python.org/.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000058
59
Guido van Rossumf501b4e1996-10-25 14:32:48 +000060How do I learn Python?
61----------------------
62
Fred Drake0e6444c1999-05-17 19:35:01 +000063The official tutorial is still a good place to start; see
Guido van Rossumd0a42e22000-03-31 20:16:45 +000064http://www.python.org/doc/ for online and downloadable versions, as
65well as a list of other introductions, and reference documentation.
Guido van Rossumf501b4e1996-10-25 14:32:48 +000066
Guido van Rossumd0a42e22000-03-31 20:16:45 +000067There's a quickly growing set of books on Python. See
68http://www.python.org/psa/bookstore/ for a list.
Guido van Rossum8d90f9d1997-05-22 20:13:25 +000069
Guido van Rossumf501b4e1996-10-25 14:32:48 +000070
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000071Documentation
72-------------
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000073
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000074All documentation is provided online in a variety of formats. In
75order of importance for new users: Tutorial, Library Reference,
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000076Language Reference, Extending & Embedding, and the Python/C API. The
77Library Reference is especially of immense value since much of
78Python's power is described there, including the built-in data types
79and functions!
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +000080
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000081All documentation is also available online at the Python web site
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000082(http://www.python.org/doc/, see below). It is available online for
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000083occasional reference, or can be downloaded in many formats for faster
Fred Drake6caae142000-10-25 17:51:02 +000084access. The documentation is available in HTML, PostScript, PDF, and
85LaTeX formats; the LaTeX version is primarily for documentation
86authors, translators, and people with special formatting requirements.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000087
88
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000089Web sites
90---------
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000091
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000092New Python releases and related technologies are published at
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +000093http://www.python.org/. Come visit us!
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000094
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +000095There's also a Python community web site at http://starship.python.net/.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +000096
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +000097
98Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
99----------------------------
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000100
101Read comp.lang.python, a high-volume discussion newsgroup about
102Python, or comp.lang.python.announce, a low-volume moderated newsgroup
103for Python-related announcements. These are also accessible as
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000104mailing lists: see http://www.python.org/psa/MailingLists.html for an
105overview of the many Python-related mailing lists.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000106
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000107Archives are accessible via Deja.com Usenet News: see
108http://www.deja.com/usenet. The mailing lists are also archived, see
109http://www.python.org/psa/MailingLists.html for details.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000110
111
112Bug reports
113-----------
114
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000115To report or search for bugs, please use the Python Bug
116Tracker at http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000117
118
119Patches and contributions
120-------------------------
121
Fred Drake6caae142000-10-25 17:51:02 +0000122To submit a patch or other contribution, please use the Python Patch
123Manager at http://sourceforge.net/patch/?group_id=5470. Guidelines
124for patch submission may be found at http://www.python.org/patches/.
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000125
126If you have a proposal to change Python, it's best to submit a Python
127Enhancement Proposal (PEP) first. All current PEPs, as well as
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000128guidelines for submitting a new PEP, are list at
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000129http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/.
130
131
132Questions
133---------
134
135For help, if you can't find it in the manuals or on the web site, it's
136best to post to the comp.lang.python or the Python mailing list (see
137above). If you specifically don't want to involve the newsgroup or
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000138mailing list, send questions to help@python.org (a group of volunteers
139who answer questions as they can). The newsgroup is the most
140efficient way to ask public questions.
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000141
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000142
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000143Build instructions
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000144==================
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000145
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000146Before you can build Python, you must first configure it. Fortunately,
147the configuration and build process has been streamlined for most Unix
148installations, so all you have to do is type a few commands,
149optionally edit one file, and sit back. There are some platforms
150where things are not quite as smooth; see the platform specific notes
151below. If you want to build for multiple platforms sharing the same
152source tree, see the section on VPATH below.
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000153
Neil Schemenauer3f52da52001-01-24 17:49:59 +0000154Start by running the script "./configure", which determines your system
155configuration and creates the Makefile. (It takes a minute or two --
156please be patient!) You may want to pass options to the configure
157script or edit the Modules/Setup file after running configure -- see the
158section below on configuration options and variables. When it's done,
159you are ready to run make.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000160
Neil Schemenauer3f52da52001-01-24 17:49:59 +0000161To build Python, you normally type "make" in the toplevel directory. If
162you have changed the configuration or have modified Modules/Setup, the
163Makefile may have to be rebuilt. In this case you may have to run make
164again to correctly build your desired target. The interpreter
165executable is built in the top level directory.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000166
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000167Once you have built a Python interpreter, see the subsections below on
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000168testing, configuring additional modules, and installation. If you run
Fred Drake80078492000-10-26 17:13:19 +0000169into trouble, see the next section. Editing the Modules/Setup file
170after running make is supported; just run "make" again after making
171the desired changes.
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000172
Guido van Rossum0a516c91994-09-12 10:58:40 +0000173
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000174Troubleshooting
175---------------
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000176
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000177See also the platform specific notes in the next section.
178
Guido van Rossum49523691997-08-15 18:30:14 +0000179If you run into other trouble, see section 3 of the FAQ
Guido van Rossum901454e2000-06-29 22:28:44 +0000180(http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw.py or
Guido van Rossum49523691997-08-15 18:30:14 +0000181http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html) for hints on what can go wrong,
182and how to fix it.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000183
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000184If you rerun the configure script with different options, remove all
185object files by running "make clean" before rebuilding. Believe it or
186not, "make clean" sometimes helps to clean up other inexplicable
187problems as well. Try it before sending in a bug report!
188
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000189If the configure script fails or doesn't seem to find things that
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000190should be there, inspect the config.log file. When you fix a
191configure problem, be sure to remove config.cache!
192
193If you get a warning for every file about the -Olimit option being no
194longer supported, you can ignore it. There's no foolproof way to know
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000195whether this option is needed; all we can do is test whether it is
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000196accepted without error. On some systems, e.g. older SGI compilers, it
197is essential for performance (specifically when compiling ceval.c,
198which has more basic blocks than the default limit of 1000). If the
199warning bothers you, edit the Makefile to remove "-Olimit 1500" from
200the OPT variable.
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000201
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000202If you get failures in test_long, or sys.maxint gets set to -1, you
203are probably experiencing compiler bugs, usually related to
204optimization. This is a common problem with some versions of gcc and
205egcs, and some vendor-supplied compilers, which can sometimes be
206worked around by turning off optimization. Consider switching to
207stable versions (gcc 2.7.2.3, egcs 1.1.2, or contact your vendor.)
208
209From Python 2.0 onward, all Python C code is ANSI C. Compiling using
210old K&R-C-only compilers is no longer possible. ANSI C compilers are
211available for all modern systems, either in the form of updated
212compilers from the vendor, or one of the free compilers (gcc, egcs).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000213
214Platform specific notes
215-----------------------
216
Guido van Rossum0447a321995-10-08 01:22:33 +0000217(Some of these may no longer apply. If you find you can build Python
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000218on these platforms without the special directions mentioned here,
219submit a documentation bug report to SourceForge (see Bug Reports
220above) so we can remove them!)
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000221
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +000022264-bit platforms: The modules audioop, imageop and rgbimg don't work.
223 Don't try to enable them in the Modules/Setup file. They
224 contain code that is quite wordsize sensitive. (If you have a
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000225 fix, let us know!)
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000226
Guido van Rossum4462e931997-01-22 21:00:32 +0000227Solaris: When using Sun's C compiler with threads, at least on Solaris
228 2.5.1, you need to add the "-mt" compiler option (the simplest
229 way is probably to specify the compiler with this option as
230 the "CC" environment variable when running the configure
231 script).
232
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000233Linux: A problem with threads and fork() was tracked down to a bug in
234 the pthreads code in glibc version 2.0.5; glibc version 2.0.7
235 solves the problem. This causes the popen2 test to fail;
236 problem and solution reported by Pablo Bleyer.
Guido van Rossum4462e931997-01-22 21:00:32 +0000237
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000238 Under Linux systems using GNU libc 2 (aka libc6), the crypt
239 module now needs the -lcrypt option. Uncomment this flag in
240 Modules/Setup, or comment out the crypt module in the same
241 file. Most modern Linux systems use glibc2.
Fred Drake61280911997-12-08 14:10:40 +0000242
Guido van Rossum59230501999-06-21 20:51:46 +0000243FreeBSD 3.x and probably platforms with NCurses that use libmytinfo or
244 similar: When using cursesmodule, the linking is not done in
245 the correct order with the defaults. Remove "-ltermcap" from
246 the readline entry in Setup, and use as curses entry: "curses
247 cursesmodule.c -lmytinfo -lncurses -ltermcap" - "mytinfo" (so
248 called on FreeBSD) should be the name of the auxiliary library
249 required on your platform. Normally, it would be linked
250 automatically, but not necessarily in the correct order.
251
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000252BSDI: BSDI versions before 4.1 have known problems with threads,
253 which can cause strange errors in a number of modules (for
254 instance, the 'test_signal' test script will hang forever.)
255 Turning off threads (with --with-threads=no) or upgrading to
256 BSDI 4.1 solves this problem.
257
258DEC Unix: Run configure with --with-dec-threads, or with
259 --with-threads=no if no threads are desired (threads are on by
260 default). When using GCC, it is possible to get an internal
261 compiler error if optimization is used. This was reported for
262 GCC 2.7.2.3 on selectmodule.c. Manually compile the affected
263 file without optimization to solve the problem.
Guido van Rossum8eca2c21996-02-14 18:37:46 +0000264
Guido van Rossume1cdb161999-04-10 16:04:07 +0000265DEC Ultrix: compile with GCC to avoid bugs in the native compiler,
266 and pass SHELL=/bin/sh5 to Make when installing.
267
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000268AIX: A complete overhaul of the shared library support is now in
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000269 place. See Misc/AIX-NOTES for some notes on how it's done.
Guido van Rossum9ac9a261998-02-16 22:19:21 +0000270 (The optimizer bug reported at this place in previous releases
Thomas Wouters8ee06142001-02-15 11:45:29 +0000271 has been worked around by a minimal code change.) If you get
272 errors about ptread_* functions, during compile or during
273 testing, try setting CC to a thread-safe (reentrant) compiler,
274 like "cc_r". For full C++ module support, set CC="xlC_r" (or
275 CC="xlC" without thread support).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000276
Guido van Rossum59a88f41999-04-12 18:16:09 +0000277HP-UX: Please read the file Misc/HPUX-NOTES for shared libraries.
278 When using threading, you may have to add -D_REENTRANT to the
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000279 OPT variable in the top-level Makefile; reported by Pat Knight,
Guido van Rossum59a88f41999-04-12 18:16:09 +0000280 this seems to make a difference (at least for HP-UX 10.20)
281 even though config.h defines it.
Guido van Rossum2094e041998-05-14 15:47:35 +0000282
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000283Minix: When using ack, use "CC=cc AR=aal RANLIB=: ./configure"!
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000284
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000285SCO: The following apply to SCO 3 only; Python builds out of the box
286 on SCO 5 (or so we've heard).
Guido van Rossuma16e2751998-04-13 20:14:05 +0000287
288 1) Everything works much better if you add -U__STDC__ to the
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000289 defs. This is because all the SCO header files are broken.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000290 Anything that isn't mentioned in the C standard is
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000291 conditionally excluded when __STDC__ is defined.
292
293 2) Due to the U.S. export restrictions, SCO broke the crypt
294 stuff out into a separate library, libcrypt_i.a so the LIBS
295 needed be set to:
296
297 LIBS=' -lsocket -lcrypt_i'
298
Martin v. Löwis387c5472001-09-06 08:16:17 +0000299UnixWare: There are known bugs in the math library of the system, as well as
300 problems in the handling of threads (calling fork in one
301 thread may interrupt system calls in others). Therefore, test_math and
302 tests involving threads will fail until those problems are fixed.
303
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000304SunOS 4.x: When using the SunPro C compiler, you may want to use the
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000305 '-Xa' option instead of '-Xc', to enable some needed non-ANSI
306 Sunisms.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000307
Jack Jansena39ef862001-08-19 21:17:03 +0000308NeXT: Not supported anymore. Start with the MacOSX/Darwin code if you
309 want to revive it.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000310
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000311QNX: Chris Herborth (chrish@qnx.com) writes:
312 configure works best if you use GNU bash; a port is available on
313 ftp.qnx.com in /usr/free. I used the following process to build,
Guido van Rossumd4493421998-12-22 16:37:01 +0000314 test and install Python 1.5.x under QNX:
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000315
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000316 1) CONFIG_SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash CC=cc RANLIB=: \
317 ./configure --verbose --without-gcc --with-libm=""
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000318
Fred Drake80078492000-10-26 17:13:19 +0000319 2) edit Modules/Setup to activate everything that makes sense for
320 your system... tested here at QNX with the following modules:
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000321
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000322 array, audioop, binascii, cPickle, cStringIO, cmath,
323 crypt, curses, errno, fcntl, gdbm, grp, imageop,
324 _locale, math, md5, new, operator, parser, pcre,
325 posix, pwd, readline, regex, reop, rgbimg, rotor,
326 select, signal, socket, soundex, strop, struct,
Guido van Rossumd4493421998-12-22 16:37:01 +0000327 syslog, termios, time, timing, zlib, audioop, imageop, rgbimg
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000328
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000329 3) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash
330
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000331 or, if you feel the need for speed:
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000332
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000333 make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash OPT="-5 -Oil+nrt"
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000334
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000335 4) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash test
336
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000337 Using GNU readline 2.2 seems to behave strangely, but I
338 think that's a problem with my readline 2.2 port. :-\
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000339
340 5) make SHELL=/usr/local/bin/bash install
Guido van Rossumb7f454d1997-12-02 19:44:31 +0000341
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000342 If you get SIGSEGVs while running Python (I haven't yet, but
343 I've only run small programs and the test cases), you're
344 probably running out of stack; the default 32k could be a
345 little tight. To increase the stack size, edit the Makefile
Neil Schemenauer73f8ab22001-01-26 22:18:55 +0000346 to read: LDFLAGS = -N 48k
Guido van Rossum40d63581997-08-14 19:45:30 +0000347
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000348BeOS: Chris Herborth (chrish@qnx.com) writes:
349 See BeOS/README for notes about compiling/installing Python on
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000350 BeOS R3 or later. Note that only the PowerPC platform is
Guido van Rossumd4493421998-12-22 16:37:01 +0000351 supported for R3; both PowerPC and x86 are supported for R4.
Guido van Rossumec95c7b1998-08-04 17:59:56 +0000352
Guido van Rossum1bf0bf41997-08-20 23:50:51 +0000353Cray T3E: Konrad Hinsen writes:
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000354 1) Don't use gcc. It compiles Python/graminit.c into something
355 that the Cray assembler doesn't like. Cray's cc seems to work
356 fine.
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000357 2) Comment out modules md5 (won't compile) and audioop (will
Guido van Rossum6fa49e21998-08-11 17:31:39 +0000358 crash the interpreter during the test suite).
359 If you run the test suite, two tests will fail (rotate and
360 binascii), but these are not the modules you'd expect to need
361 on a Cray.
Guido van Rossum1bf0bf41997-08-20 23:50:51 +0000362
Guido van Rossum0078aaf1997-08-21 03:05:11 +0000363SGI: SGI's standard "make" utility (/bin/make or /usr/bin/make)
364 does not check whether a command actually changed the file it
365 is supposed to build. This means that whenever you say "make"
366 it will redo the link step. The remedy is to use SGI's much
Guido van Rossum7be8ca02001-04-14 13:09:53 +0000367 smarter "smake" utility (/usr/sbin/smake), or GNU make. If
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000368 you set the first line of the Makefile to #!/usr/sbin/smake
369 smake will be invoked by make (likewise for GNU make).
Guido van Rossum0078aaf1997-08-21 03:05:11 +0000370
Guido van Rossum7be8ca02001-04-14 13:09:53 +0000371 WARNING: There are bugs in the optimizer of some versions of
372 SGI's compilers that can cause bus errors or other strange
373 behavior, especially on numerical operations. To avoid this,
374 try building with "make OPT=".
Fred Drake0b5fb2b2000-09-29 17:45:05 +0000375
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000376OS/2: If you are running Warp3 or Warp4 and have IBM's VisualAge C/C++
377 compiler installed, just change into the pc\os2vacpp directory
378 and type NMAKE. Threading and sockets are supported by default
379 in the resulting binaries of PYTHON15.DLL and PYTHON.EXE.
380
Fred Drake36ed5602000-10-06 01:58:48 +0000381Monterey (64-bit AIX): The current Monterey C compiler (Visual Age)
382 uses the OBJECT_MODE={32|64} environment variable to set the
383 compilation mode to either 32-bit or 64-bit (32-bit mode is
384 the default). Presumably you want 64-bit compilation mode for
385 this 64-bit OS. As a result you must first set OBJECT_MODE=64
386 in your environment before configuring (./configure) or
387 building (make) Python on Monterey.
388
389Reliant UNIX: The thread support does not compile on Reliant UNIX, and
390 there is a (minor) problem in the configure script for that
391 platform as well. This should be resolved in time for a
392 future release.
Trent Mick635f6fb2000-08-23 21:33:05 +0000393
Jack Jansena39ef862001-08-19 21:17:03 +0000394Mac OS X 10.0: Run configure with "./configure --with-suffix=.exe".
395 This generates executable file: 'python.exe' (it cannot be named
396 'python' on an HFS or HFS+ disk as the file name clashes with
397 directory 'Python'). One of the regular expression tests fails
398 with a SEGV due to the small stack size used by default (how to
399 change this?), and the test_largefile test is only expected to
400 work on a Unix UFS filesystem (how to check for this on Mac OS
401 X?).
402 On naked Darwin you may have to add the configure option
403 "--without-toolbox-glue" to disable the glue code for the Carbon
404 interface modules. (The modules themselves are currently not built
405 by default as they are experimental, on real OSX you can enable them
406 in setup.py).
407 You may want to try the configure option "--enable-framework" which
408 installs Python as a framework. The location can be set as argument
409 to the --enable-framework option (default /Library/Frameworks).
Fred Drakedabed752001-02-01 19:41:13 +0000410
Tim Peters42fc7cc2001-04-04 18:35:19 +0000411Cygwin: Cygwin Python builds OOTB when configured as follows:
412
413 configure --with-threads=no
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000414
Tim Peters42fc7cc2001-04-04 18:35:19 +0000415 assuming Cygwin 1.1.8-2 and gcc 2.95.3-1 or later. At the time
416 of this writing, Cygwin pthread support is being significantly
417 enhanced. Hopefully, there will be a Cygwin Python with thread
418 support soon.
419
420 Cygwin Python supports the building of shared extensions via the
421 traditional Misc/Makefile.pre.in and the newer distutils methods.
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000422
Tim Peters42fc7cc2001-04-04 18:35:19 +0000423 On NT/2000, the following regression tests fail:
424
425 test_poll (hang)
426 test_strftime
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000427
Tim Peters42fc7cc2001-04-04 18:35:19 +0000428 Due to the test_poll hang on NT/2000, one should run the
429 regression test using the following:
430
431 PYTHONPATH= ./python.exe -tt ./Lib/test/regrtest.py -l -x test_poll
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000432
Tim Peters42fc7cc2001-04-04 18:35:19 +0000433 On 9X/Me, in addition the above NT/2000 failures, it has been
434 reported that the following regression tests also fail:
435
436 test_pwd
437 test_select (hang)
438 test_socket
439
440 Due to the test_poll and test_select hang on 9X/Me, one should
441 run the regression test using the following:
442
443 PYTHONPATH= ./python.exe -tt ./Lib/test/regrtest.py -l -x test_poll -x test_select
444
445 Help trying to track down the root causes for these known problems
446 will be greatly appreciated.
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000447
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000448
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000449Configuring threads
450-------------------
451
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000452As of Python 2.0, threads are enabled by default. If you wish to
453compile without threads, or if your thread support is broken, pass the
454--with-threads=no switch to configure. Unfortunately, on some
455platforms, additional compiler and/or linker options are required for
456threads to work properly. Below is a table of those options,
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000457collected by Bill Janssen. We would love to automate this process
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000458more, but the information below is not enough to write a patch for the
459configure.in file, so manual intervention is required. If you patch
460the configure.in file and are confident that the patch works, please
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000461send in the patch. (Don't bother patching the configure script itself
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000462-- it is regenerated each the configure.in file changes.)
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000463
464Compiler switches for threads
465.............................
466
Martin v. Löwis1c24f9c2001-03-06 12:07:27 +0000467The definition of _REENTRANT should be configured automatically, if
468that does not work on your system, or if _REENTRANT is defined
469incorrectly, please report that as a bug.
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000470
Martin v. Löwis1c24f9c2001-03-06 12:07:27 +0000471 OS/Compiler/threads Switches for use with threads
472 (POSIX is draft 10, DCE is draft 4) compile & link
473
474 SunOS 5.{1-5}/{gcc,SunPro cc}/solaris -mt
475 SunOS 5.5/{gcc,SunPro cc}/POSIX (nothing)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000476 DEC OSF/1 3.x/cc/DCE -threads
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000477 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000478 Digital UNIX 4.x/cc/DCE -threads
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000479 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000480 Digital UNIX 4.x/cc/POSIX -pthread
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000481 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000482 AIX 4.1.4/cc_r/d7 (nothing)
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000483 (buhrt@iquest.net)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000484 AIX 4.1.4/cc_r4/DCE (nothing)
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000485 (buhrt@iquest.net)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000486 IRIX 6.2/cc/POSIX (nothing)
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000487 (robertl@cwi.nl)
488
489
490Linker (ld) libraries and flags for threads
491...........................................
492
493 OS/threads Libraries/switches for use with threads
494
495 SunOS 5.{1-5}/solaris -lthread
496 SunOS 5.5/POSIX -lpthread
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000497 DEC OSF/1 3.x/DCE -lpthreads -lmach -lc_r -lc
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000498 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
499 Digital UNIX 4.x/DCE -lpthreads -lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc
500 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000501 Digital UNIX 4.x/POSIX -lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000502 (butenhof@zko.dec.com)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000503 AIX 4.1.4/{draft7,DCE} (nothing)
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000504 (buhrt@iquest.net)
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000505 IRIX 6.2/POSIX -lpthread
Guido van Rossumdc8a3cb1998-05-12 15:29:18 +0000506 (jph@emilia.engr.sgi.com)
507
508
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000509Configuring additional built-in modules
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000510---------------------------------------
Guido van Rossum19e0c261995-01-17 16:36:34 +0000511
Andrew M. Kuchlingebe30452001-02-27 03:24:24 +0000512Starting with Python 2.1, the setup.py script at the top of the source
513distribution attempts to detect which modules can be built and
514automatically compiles them. Autodetection doesn't always work, so
515you can customize the configuration by editing the Modules/Setup file.
516This file is initially copied from Setup.dist by the configure script;
517if it does not exist yet, create it by copying Modules/Setup.dist
518yourself (configure will never overwrite it). Never edit Setup.dist
519-- always edit Setup or Setup.local (see below). Read the comments in
520the file for information on what kind of edits are allowed. When you
521have edited Setup in the Modules directory, the interpreter will
522automatically be rebuilt the next time you run make in the toplevel
523directory. (When working inside the Modules directory, use "make
524Makefile; make".)
Guido van Rossum627b2d71993-12-24 10:39:16 +0000525
Andrew M. Kuchlingebe30452001-02-27 03:24:24 +0000526Many useful modules can be built on any Unix system, but some optional
527modules can't be reliably autodetected. Often the quickest way to
528determine whether a particular module works or not is to see if it
529will build: enable it in Setup, then if you get compilation or link
Fred Drake6caae142000-10-25 17:51:02 +0000530errors, disable it -- you're either missing support or need to adjust
531the compilation and linking parameters for that module.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000532
533On SGI IRIX, there are modules that interface to many SGI specific
Andrew M. Kuchlingebe30452001-02-27 03:24:24 +0000534system libraries, e.g. the GL library and the audio hardware. These
535modules will not be built by the setup.py script.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000536
Guido van Rossum4462e931997-01-22 21:00:32 +0000537In addition to the file Setup, you can also edit the file Setup.local.
538(the makesetup script processes both). You may find it more
539convenient to edit Setup.local and leave Setup alone. Then, when
540installing a new Python version, you can copy your old Setup.local
541file.
542
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000543
544Setting the optimization/debugging options
545------------------------------------------
546
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000547If you want or need to change the optimization/debugging options for
548the C compiler, assign to the OPT variable on the toplevel make
549command; e.g. "make OPT=-g" will build a debugging version of Python
550on most platforms. The default is OPT=-O; a value for OPT in the
551environment when the configure script is run overrides this default
552(likewise for CC; and the initial value for LIBS is used as the base
553set of libraries to link with).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000554
Fred Drake6caae142000-10-25 17:51:02 +0000555When compiling with GCC, the default value of OPT will also include
556the -Wall and -Wstrict-prototypes options.
557
558Additional debugging code to help debug memory management problems can
559be enabled by using the --with-pydebug option to the configure script.
560
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000561
Guido van Rossuma68ca352001-10-04 17:00:07 +0000562Profiling
563---------
564
565If you want C profiling turned on, the easiest way is to run configure
566with the CC environment variable to the necessary compiler
567invocation. For example, on Linux, this works for profiling using
568gprof(1):
569
570 CC="gcc -pg" ./configure
571
572Note that on Linux, gprof apparently does not work for shared
573libraries. The Makefile/Setup mechanism can be used to compile and
574link most extension module statically.
575
576
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000577Testing
578-------
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000579
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000580To test the interpreter, type "make test" in the top-level directory.
Guido van Rossum6ae5d3d1997-05-14 21:39:05 +0000581This runs the test set twice (once with no compiled files, once with
582the compiled files left by the previous test run). The test set
583produces some output. You can generally ignore the messages about
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000584skipped tests due to optional features which can't be imported. (If
585you want to test those modules, edit Modules/Setup to configure them.)
586If a message is printed about a failed test or a traceback or core
587dump is produced, something is wrong. On some Linux systems (those
Guido van Rossum24df6841997-12-30 04:32:30 +0000588that are not yet using glibc 6), test_strftime fails due to a
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000589non-standard implementation of strftime() in the C library. Please
590ignore this, or upgrade to glibc version 6.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000591
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000592IMPORTANT: If the tests fail and you decide to mail a bug report,
593*don't* include the output of "make test". It is useless. Run the
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000594failing test manually, as follows:
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000595
Guido van Rossum6ae5d3d1997-05-14 21:39:05 +0000596 python ../Lib/test/test_whatever.py
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000597
598(substituting the top of the source tree for .. if you built in a
Guido van Rossum6ae5d3d1997-05-14 21:39:05 +0000599different directory). This runs the test in verbose mode.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000600
601
602Installing
603----------
604
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000605To install the Python binary, library modules, shared library modules
606(see below), include files, configuration files, and the manual page,
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000607just type
608
609 make install
610
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000611This will install all platform-independent files in subdirectories of
612the directory given with the --prefix option to configure or to the
613`prefix' Make variable (default /usr/local). All binary and other
614platform-specific files will be installed in subdirectories if the
615directory given by --exec-prefix or the `exec_prefix' Make variable
616(defaults to the --prefix directory) is given.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000617
618All subdirectories created will have Python's version number in their
619name, e.g. the library modules are installed in
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000620"/usr/local/lib/python<version>/" by default, where <version> is the
621<major>.<minor> release number (e.g. "2.1"). The Python binary is
622installed as "python<version>" and a hard link named "python" is
623created. The only file not installed with a version number in its
624name is the manual page, installed as "/usr/local/man/man1/python.1"
625by default.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000626
Neil Schemenauer0e91dc72001-02-16 04:18:08 +0000627If you have a previous installation of Python that you don't
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000628want to replace yet, use
629
630 make altinstall
631
632This installs the same set of files as "make install" except it
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000633doesn't create the hard link to "python<version>" named "python" and
634it doesn't install the manual page at all.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000635
Neil Schemenauer0e91dc72001-02-16 04:18:08 +0000636Alpha/beta revision levels are stripped from the executable and
637library filenames during installation. For example, Python2.1a2 will
638install as python2.1, overwriting the previous python2.1. To avoid
639this, you could set the Makefile VERSION variable manually
640(e.g. VERSION=2.1a2) before running "make install" or "make altinstall".
641
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000642The only thing you may have to install manually is the Python mode for
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000643Emacs found in Misc/python-mode.el. (But then again, more recent
644versions of Emacs may already have it.) Follow the instructions that
645came with Emacs for installation of site-specific files.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000646
Jack Jansena39ef862001-08-19 21:17:03 +0000647On Mac OS X, if you have configured Python with --enable-framework, you
648should use "make frameworkinstall" to do the installation. Note that this
649installs the Python executable in a place that is not normally on your
650PATH, you may want to set up a symlink in /usr/local/bin.
651
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000652
653Configuration options and variables
654-----------------------------------
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000655
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000656Some special cases are handled by passing options to the configure
657script.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000658
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000659WARNING: if you rerun the configure script with different options, you
660must run "make clean" before rebuilding. Exceptions to this rule:
661after changing --prefix or --exec-prefix, all you need to do is remove
Guido van Rossumb06df271997-08-05 21:50:20 +0000662Modules/getpath.o.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000663
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000664--with(out)-gcc: The configure script uses gcc (the GNU C compiler) if
665 it finds it. If you don't want this, or if this compiler is
666 installed but broken on your platform, pass the option
667 --without-gcc. You can also pass "CC=cc" (or whatever the
668 name of the proper C compiler is) in the environment, but the
669 advantage of using --without-gcc is that this option is
670 remembered by the config.status script for its --recheck
671 option.
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000672
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000673--prefix, --exec-prefix: If you want to install the binaries and the
674 Python library somewhere else than in /usr/local/{bin,lib},
675 you can pass the option --prefix=DIRECTORY; the interpreter
676 binary will be installed as DIRECTORY/bin/python and the
677 library files as DIRECTORY/lib/python/*. If you pass
678 --exec-prefix=DIRECTORY (as well) this overrides the
679 installation prefix for architecture-dependent files (like the
680 interpreter binary). Note that --prefix=DIRECTORY also
681 affects the default module search path (sys.path), when
682 Modules/config.c is compiled. Passing make the option
683 prefix=DIRECTORY (and/or exec_prefix=DIRECTORY) overrides the
684 prefix set at configuration time; this may be more convenient
685 than re-running the configure script if you change your mind
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000686 about the install prefix.
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000687
Guido van Rossumb06df271997-08-05 21:50:20 +0000688--with-readline: This option is no longer supported. To use GNU
689 readline, enable module "readline" in the Modules/Setup file.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000690
Guido van Rossum7ac11532000-08-29 21:36:40 +0000691--with-threads: On most Unix systems, you can now use multiple
692 threads, and support for this is enabled by default. To
693 disable this, pass --with-threads=no. If the library required
694 for threads lives in a peculiar place, you can use
695 --with-thread=DIRECTORY. IMPORTANT: run "make clean" after
696 changing (either enabling or disabling) this option, or you
697 will get link errors! Note: for DEC Unix use
Guido van Rossum0e13da91998-02-22 04:36:34 +0000698 --with-dec-threads instead.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000699
700--with-sgi-dl: On SGI IRIX 4, dynamic loading of extension modules is
701 supported by the "dl" library by Jack Jansen, which is
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000702 ftp'able from ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-1.6.tar.Z.
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000703 This is enabled (after you've ftp'ed and compiled the dl
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000704 library) by passing --with-sgi-dl=DIRECTORY where DIRECTORY
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000705 is the absolute pathname of the dl library. (Don't bother on
706 IRIX 5, it already has dynamic linking using SunOS style
707 shared libraries.) Support for this feature is deprecated.
708
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000709--with-dl-dld: Dynamic loading of modules is rumored to be supported
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000710 on some other systems: VAX (Ultrix), Sun3 (SunOS 3.4), Sequent
711 Symmetry (Dynix), and Atari ST. This is done using a
712 combination of the GNU dynamic loading package
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000713 (ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-dld-1.1.tar.Z) and an
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000714 emulation of the SGI dl library mentioned above (the emulation
715 can be found at
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000716 ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dld-3.2.3.tar.Z). To
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000717 enable this, ftp and compile both libraries, then call
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000718 configure, passing it the option
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000719 --with-dl-dld=DL_DIRECTORY,DLD_DIRECTORY where DL_DIRECTORY is
720 the absolute pathname of the dl emulation library and
721 DLD_DIRECTORY is the absolute pathname of the GNU dld library.
722 (Don't bother on SunOS 4 or 5, they already have dynamic
723 linking using shared libraries.) Support for this feature is
724 deprecated.
725
726--with-libm, --with-libc: It is possible to specify alternative
727 versions for the Math library (default -lm) and the C library
728 (default the empty string) using the options
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000729 --with-libm=STRING and --with-libc=STRING, respectively. For
730 example, if your system requires that you pass -lc_s to the C
731 compiler to use the shared C library, you can pass
732 --with-libc=-lc_s. These libraries are passed after all other
733 libraries, the C library last.
Guido van Rossum16e809e2001-04-16 02:07:08 +0000734
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000735--with-libs='libs': Add 'libs' to the LIBS that the python interpreter
736 is linked against.
Guido van Rossumd02ba451996-07-31 17:36:01 +0000737
Martin v. Löwis2df66942000-12-13 14:14:32 +0000738--with-cxx=<compiler>: Some C++ compilers require that main() is
739 compiled with the C++ if there is any C++ code in the application.
740 Specifically, g++ on a.out systems may require that to support
741 construction of global objects. With this option, the main() function
742 of Python will be compiled with <compiler>; use that only if you
743 plan to use C++ extension modules, and if your compiler requires
744 compilation of main() as a C++ program.
745
746
Fred Drake6caae142000-10-25 17:51:02 +0000747--with-pydebug: Enable additional debugging code to help track down
748 memory management problems. This allows printing a list of all
749 live objects when the interpreter terminates.
750
Guido van Rossum76be6ed1995-01-02 18:33:54 +0000751
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000752Building for multiple architectures (using the VPATH feature)
753-------------------------------------------------------------
754
755If your file system is shared between multiple architectures, it
756usually is not necessary to make copies of the sources for each
757architecture you want to support. If the make program supports the
758VPATH feature, you can create an empty build directory for each
759architecture, and in each directory run the configure script (on the
760appropriate machine with the appropriate options). This creates the
761necessary subdirectories and the Makefiles therein. The Makefiles
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000762contain a line VPATH=... which points to a directory containing the
Guido van Rossumd0fe8451996-08-26 03:02:37 +0000763actual sources. (On SGI systems, use "smake -J1" instead of "make" if
764you use VPATH -- don't try gnumake.)
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000765
766For example, the following is all you need to build a minimal Python
767in /usr/tmp/python (assuming ~guido/src/python is the toplevel
768directory and you want to build in /usr/tmp/python):
769
770 $ mkdir /usr/tmp/python
771 $ cd /usr/tmp/python
772 $ ~guido/src/python/configure
773 [...]
774 $ make
775 [...]
776 $
777
Neil Schemenauer73f8ab22001-01-26 22:18:55 +0000778Note that configure copies the original Setup file to the build
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000779directory if it finds no Setup file there. This means that you can
780edit the Setup file for each architecture independently. For this
781reason, subsequent changes to the original Setup file are not tracked
782automatically, as they might overwrite local changes. To force a copy
783of a changed original Setup file, delete the target Setup file. (The
784makesetup script supports multiple input files, so if you want to be
785fancy you can change the rules to create an empty Setup.local if it
786doesn't exist and run it with arguments $(srcdir)/Setup Setup.local;
787however this assumes that you only need to add modules.)
788
789
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000790Building on non-UNIX systems
791----------------------------
792
Tim Peters03444242000-09-19 00:38:35 +0000793For Windows (2000/NT/ME/98/95), assuming you have MS VC++ 6.0, the
794project files are in PCbuild, the workspace is pcbuild.dsw. See
795PCbuild\readme.txt for detailed instructions.
Guido van Rossum8d7d4ed1996-07-30 21:41:07 +0000796
Guido van Rossum31ae2071999-04-12 14:47:30 +0000797For other non-Unix Windows compilers, in particular Windows 3.1 and
798for OS/2, enter the directory "PC" and read the file "readme.txt".
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000799
800For the Mac, a separate source distribution will be made available,
801for use with the CodeWarrior compiler. If you are interested in Mac
802development, join the PythonMac Special Interest Group
803(http://www.python.org/sigs/pythonmac-sig/, or send email to
804pythonmac-sig-request@python.org).
805
806Of course, there are also binary distributions available for these
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000807platforms -- see http://www.python.org/.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000808
809To port Python to a new non-UNIX system, you will have to fake the
810effect of running the configure script manually (for Mac and PC, this
811has already been done for you). A good start is to copy the file
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000812config.h.in to config.h and edit the latter to reflect the actual
813configuration of your system. Most symbols must simply be defined as
8141 only if the corresponding feature is present and can be left alone
Tim Peters4f1b2082000-07-23 21:18:09 +0000815otherwise; however the *_t type symbols must be defined as some variant
816of int if they need to be defined at all.
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000817
818
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000819
820Miscellaneous issues
821====================
822
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000823Emacs mode
824----------
825
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000826There's an excellent Emacs editing mode for Python code; see the file
827Misc/python-mode.el. Originally written by the famous Tim Peters, it
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000828is now maintained by the equally famous Barry Warsaw (it's no
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000829coincidence that they now both work on the same team). The latest
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000830version, along with various other contributed Python-related Emacs
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000831goodies, is online at http://www.python.org/emacs/python-mode. And
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000832if you are planning to edit the Python C code, please pick up the
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000833latest version of CC Mode http://www.python.org/emacs/cc-mode; it
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000834contains a "python" style used throughout most of the Python C source
835files. (Newer versions of Emacs or XEmacs may already come with the
836latest version of python-mode.)
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000837
838
839The Tk interface
840----------------
841
842Tk (the user interface component of John Ousterhout's Tcl language) is
843also usable from Python. Since this requires that you first build and
Fred Drake8179a9d2000-09-28 23:28:30 +0000844install Tcl/Tk, the Tk interface is not enabled by default when
845building Python from source. Python supports Tcl/Tk version 8.0 and
846higher.
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000847
Guido van Rossum973e4dc2000-07-01 00:34:39 +0000848See http://dev.ajubasolutions.com/ for more info on Tcl/Tk, including
849the on-line manual pages.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000850
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000851
852To enable the Python/Tk interface, once you've built and installed
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000853Tcl/Tk, load the file Modules/Setup into your favorite text editor and
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000854search for the string "_tkinter". Then follow the instructions found
855there. If you have installed Tcl/Tk or X11 in unusual places, you
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000856will have to edit the first line to fix or add the -I and -L options.
Guido van Rossum64773801997-11-26 17:07:02 +0000857(Also see the general instructions at the top of that file.)
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000858
Guido van Rossum973e4dc2000-07-01 00:34:39 +0000859For more Tkinter information, see the Tkinter Resource page:
860http://www.python.org/topics/tkinter/
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000861
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000862There are demos in the Demo/tkinter directory, in the subdirectories
863guido, matt and www (the matt and guido subdirectories have been
864overhauled to use more recent Tkinter coding conventions).
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000865
866Note that there's a Python module called "Tkinter" (capital T) which
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000867lives in Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py, and a C module called "_tkinter"
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000868(lower case t and leading underscore) which lives in
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000869Modules/_tkinter.c. Demos and normal Tk applications import only the
870Python Tkinter module -- the latter uses the C _tkinter module
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000871directly. In order to find the C _tkinter module, it must be compiled
872and linked into the Python interpreter -- the _tkinter line in the
873Setup file does this. In order to find the Python Tkinter module,
874sys.path must be set correctly -- the TKPATH assignment in the Setup
875file takes care of this, but only if you install Python properly
876("make install libinstall"). (You can also use dynamic loading for
877the C _tkinter module, in which case you must manually fix up sys.path
878or set $PYTHONPATH for the Python Tkinter module.)
Guido van Rossum84c8c7f1995-08-28 02:44:24 +0000879
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000880
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000881Distribution structure
882----------------------
883
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000884Most subdirectories have their own README files. Most files have
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000885comments.
886
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000887.cvsignore Additional filename matching patterns for CVS to ignore
888BeOS/ Files specific to the BeOS port
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000889Demo/ Demonstration scripts, modules and programs
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000890Doc/ Documentation sources (LaTeX)
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000891Grammar/ Input for the parser generator
892Include/ Public header files
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000893LICENSE Licensing information
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000894Lib/ Python library modules
Neil Schemenauer3f52da52001-01-24 17:49:59 +0000895Makefile.pre.in Source from which config.status creates the Makefile.pre
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000896Misc/ Miscellaneous useful files
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000897Modules/ Implementation of most built-in modules
898Objects/ Implementation of most built-in object types
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000899PC/ Files specific to PC ports (DOS, Windows, OS/2)
900PCbuild/ Build directory for Microsoft Visual C++
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000901Parser/ The parser and tokenizer and their input handling
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000902Python/ The byte-compiler and interpreter
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000903README The file you're reading now
904Tools/ Some useful programs written in Python
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000905acconfig.h Additional input for the GNU autoheader program
906config.h.in Source from which config.h is created (GNU autoheader output)
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000907configure Configuration shell script (GNU autoconf output)
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000908configure.in Configuration specification (input for GNU autoconf)
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000909install-sh Shell script used to install files
Guido van Rossum91cb9d21995-04-10 11:47:38 +0000910
911The following files will (may) be created in the toplevel directory by
912the configuration and build processes:
913
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000914Makefile Build rules
Neil Schemenauer3f52da52001-01-24 17:49:59 +0000915Makefile.pre Build rules before running Modules/makesetup
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000916buildno Keeps track of the build number
917config.cache Cache of configuration variables
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000918config.h Configuration header
Guido van Rossumc0be2f51997-10-08 05:05:28 +0000919config.log Log from last configure run
Guido van Rossum4f40c2d2000-09-05 16:46:22 +0000920config.status Status from last run of the configure script
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000921getbuildinfo.o Object file from Modules/getbuildinfo.c
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000922libpython<version>.a The library archive
Guido van Rossum6d9cc801996-08-01 17:31:22 +0000923python The executable interpreter
924tags, TAGS Tags files for vi and Emacs
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000925
926
Guido van Rossumc07d5fa2000-09-01 22:50:02 +0000927That's all, folks!
928------------------
Guido van Rossum433c8ad1994-08-01 12:07:07 +0000929
930
Guido van Rossum67345eb2001-01-18 14:51:12 +0000931--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)