[Python-Dev] Can't compile _tkinter.c with Redhat 9 (post-SF#719880)

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Gerrit Holl wrote:

> I am probably not the only one encountering this problem and I didn't
> find this behaviour documented in the README. Should it be? If so,
> should I sent a docpatch? 

Sure: You might want to revise the entire Redhat section in README.

>>Ask Redhat why they chose to hack Tcl to better accomodate Python.
> 
> 
> I take it 'better' is ironically here? :) 

Well, they decided to built Python 2.2 in UCS-4 mode, which is,
in general, a good thing, except that it doesn't work. In particular,
sre and _tkinter don't work well; _tkinter does not work at all.
Instead of fixing _tkinter (which I now did for Python 2.3), they
chose to hack Tcl instead, to extend it to UCS-4 mode.

Now I have to deal with standard Tcl, which is UCS-2, and can support
both UCS-2 and UCS-4 Python _tkinter with that (2.2 would mandate
UCS-2 Python for _tkinter). I also have to support Redhat Tcl, which
is UCS-4. I chose to only support this in combination with UCS-4
Python. If anybody wants the combination Redhat Tcl + UCS-2 Python,
feel free to develop a patch.

> Redhat does have bugfix updates, I will look if they know something
> about this tomorrow (IIRC they have a buglist).

It's not a bug. They *really* made this change to support their own
build of Python. Unfortunately, they have thereby tied Python to UCS-4
on Redhat 9. Their change is a hack, though, as Tcl does not really
support UCS-4 - it merely compiles now, but don't dare to use non-BMP
characters.

Once standard Tcl supports UCS-4, we probably need to look into this
again.

Regards,
Martin