[Python-Dev] importlib is now bootstrapped (and what that means)

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> We have other instances of this (e.g. the Objects/typeslots.inc file
> is generated and checked in), but in the case of importlib, we have
> to use the ./python binary for freezing to avoid bytecode
> incompatibilities, which obviously is a problem if ./python isn't
> built yet.

As for dependencies on byte code: we could consider using Cython instead
of freeze (not sure whether Cython would build the bootstrap correctly;
it may need to be fixed first). With that, we would get semi-readable
source code, which should also play more nicely with hg diffs. On the
down side, we would depend on Cython for evolving .

As for the timestamp issue: I think we should add a target "make touch"
or some such which checks whether the respective files are unmodified
in the local clone, and if so, arranges to touch generated files that
are older than their sources. If this is done by a plain shell script,
one could also make this a post-update Mercurial hook.

Regards,
Martin