[Python-Dev] Need some configure eyeballs and testing

[Skip Montanaro]

    John> I compiled your patched CVS under a few systems I have available.
    John> I just did the default thing each time (./configure; make; make
    John> test).  If there is something more strenuous you'd like me to try,
    John> I still have the build dirs.

Thanks, that's an excellent start.

On most of the more popular systems, like Linux, I anticipate no problems.
In the Makefile generated by configure you should two variables initialized,
OPT and BASECFLAGS.  On my Mac I see something like:

    OPT=             -DNDEBUG -g
    BASECFLAGS=      -Wno-long-double -no-cpp-precomp

depending on how I initialize OPT in configure's environment.

The BASECFLAGS are supposed to be the flags which are absolutely required to
build Python.  On my Mandrake Linux system, BASECFLAGS are always empty.
The only bits in OPT would be stuff to affect optimization and debugging.  I
was free to fiddle with OPT at any time and in any way I wanted.

On my Mac though, the -Wno-long-double -no-cpp-precomp are absolutely
required to get things to build properly.  Before I made these changes,
fiddling with OPT during configure or make would blow them away and my build
would fail if I wasn't careful to include those two crucial flags in OPT.

When you're looking at the output of building on a particular system, the
most important thing to look for is if OPT contains anything besides
optimization or debugging stuff.  If so, you would probably not have been
able to casually modify OPT.  Now, you should be able to.

    John> Everything went fairly smoothly: python built on every system,

Comparing the old OPT with the new OPT+BASECFLAGS Makefile variables should
give you a good idea if I got things right (if they add up to the same flags
before and after, you're golden).

I figured out why I was getting the flag duplication I mentioned in my
earlier note.  I simply forgot to run autoconf after my last change to
configure.in.  I will upload a new patch in a few minutes.

    John> Tomorrow I may get a chance to test it on an old IRIX box.  It'll
    John> probably take a day to compile though, if I'm lucky.

This should be an interesting build.  Something like

    1. configure
    2. note the value of OPT in the generated Makefile
    3. apply the patch
    4. note the combined values of OPT & BASECFLAGS in the generated
       Makefile
    5. build if there's still some time left in the day ;-)

If someone has access to other unusual platforms (BeOS, AIX, SCO) that would
be helpful as well.

Skip