The esteemed David Devereaux-Weber, P.E. has said:
Hank,
I'm still not succeeding in building Mailman. I'd like to follow another path. Can you explain why Tcl/TK don't build? The Python make install command fatals there, and doesn't complete copying some of the modules into the right places.
Dave
You're running into problems I haven't encountered, if you can't install Python without tcl and ssl. I'd suggest clearing the build and install directories, doing a fresh unpack of the Python sources, and running through the build process again. My recollection is that both Python and Mailman will build with the gcc 3.4.2 that is in the Solaris 10 distribution /usr/sfw directory tree, but that you have to do some jiggery-pokery with LD_RUN_PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, or crle to get the builds to find the GNU libraries. My installations were built with the Sun development system (Studio 11, installs in /opt/SUNWspro), so I haven't explored the implications of running with a GNU build on Solaris 10 very far.
Why Python won't build with the extensions in Solaris is that the build process doesn't look in /opt/sfw. I've done enough porting exploration to see that a "fix" involves adding a search to those directories in setup.py (in the Python build base directory), but haven't explored everything I need to know to assure that I've got an appropriate fix. Some queries to the Python users and Python developers mail lists didn't produce meaningful results, and I'm left with the feeling that "yer on yer own" with Python reliability. What I can tell you is that my builds of Python 2.4.4 and 2.5, using the Sun devsys, and without doing any porting work, install and support Mailman on my systems.
I'd suggest capturing the outputs of the configure and make steps and reviewing them. Also, the various log, makefile, and status files that configure generates. I'm not really prepared to wear a Python developer hat and try to work Python-on-Solaris problems beyond getting a Python that will support Mailman.
Hank