[Python-Dev] zlib module doesn't build - inflateCopy() not found

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> It seems I have libz 1.1.4. Is this no longer supported?

Apparently so. This function started to be used with

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r46012 | georg.brandl | 2006-05-16 09:38:27 +0200 (Di, 16 Mai 2006) | 3
lines
Geänderte Pfade:
   M /python/trunk/Doc/lib/libzlib.tex
   M /python/trunk/Lib/test/test_zlib.py
   M /python/trunk/Misc/NEWS
   M /python/trunk/Modules/zlibmodule.c

Patch #1435422: zlib's compress and decompress objects now have a
copy() method.

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zlib itself contains inflateCopy since

Changes in 1.2.0 (9 March 2003)
    - Added inflateCopy() function to record state for random access on
      externally generated deflate streams (e.g. in gzip files)

The options for Python now are these:
1. require users to install zlib 1.2.x if they want the zlib module
   drawback: more work for the system administrator
2. conditionalize copy/uncopy on the system zlib being 1.2.x
   drawback: Python applications relying on these functions would
   break if the system zlib is too old
3. make setup.py fall back to the bundled zlib if the system zlib
   is too old
   drawback: you get all the problems of static linking, e.g.
   the size increase, and the problems with two zlib versions
   living in the same address space for some embedded Python
   applications

I'm not volunteering to implement any of the options.

Regards,
Martin