[Python-Dev] Can Python Be Built Without Distutils

Gregory P. Smith greg at krypto.org
Fri Jan 23 23:45:11 CET 2015


On Fri Jan 23 2015 at 11:20:02 AM M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:

> On 23.01.2015 19:48, Matthias Klose wrote:
> > On 01/23/2015 06:30 PM, Cyd Haselton wrote:
> >> Related to my earlier question regarding building Python on Android
> >> and an undefined reference to dlopen error...I have the following
> >> question:  Is it possible to build and install Python without having
> >> to build and install...or use...distutils?
> >>
> >> Some background:
> >> I can build the python interpreter on my device, and I can build a
> >> bunch of modules.  The problem appears when make reaches the part
> >> where setup.py is used to build and import modules...specifically when
> >> setup.py attempts to import distutils.core.
> >
> > you can do this using Setup.local. This works for me building additional
> > extensions as builtins.  It might require some tweaking to build
> everything.
>
> You may want to have a look at the Setup files we're using
> in eGenix PyRun, which uses them to force static builds of the
> various built-in extensions.
>
> Look for these files:
>
> PyRun/Runtime/Setup.PyRun-2.7
> PyRun/Runtime/Setup.PyRun-3.4
>
> in the source archives:
>
> http://www.egenix.com/products/python/PyRun/
>
> > Otoh, I would like to get rid off the setup.py altogether (/me ducks
> ...).
>
> Why ? It's great for finding stuff on your system and configuring
> everything without user intervention (well, most of the time :-)).
>

Because our setup.py is a nightmare of arbitrary code run in a linear
fashion with ad-hoc checks for things that are unlike how any other project
on the planet determines what is available on your system.  It may have
seemed "great" when it was created in 2001.  It really shows its age now.

It defeats build parallelism and dependency declaration.
It also prevents cross compilation.

Building an interpreter with a limited standard library on your build host
so that you can run said interpreter to have it drive the remainder of your
build is way more self hosting that we rightfully need to be for CPython.

-gps


> --
> Marc-Andre Lemburg
> eGenix.com
>
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