Python on Altix

[Skip Montanaro]

You wrote:

    Todd> I configure Python like this:

    Todd> ./configure --prefix=$HOME --with-pydebug --without-threads

then you jump to:

    Todd> But as soon as I try to run my software self-tests (for the
    Todd> numarray Numeric-like array package), I get this:

    ...

then later:

    Todd> I've poked around with this for a few hours, but I'm not getting
    Todd> much out of GDB.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get
    Todd> Python up and running on an Altix or how to solve this problem
    Todd> more generally?

Maybe I'm being too pdeantic, but did Python's own test suite run
successfully?  You seem to be trying to run before you're walking.
32->64-bit issues do pop up from time-to-time.  It's possible that the
Python developers have tackled this already but that the numarray folks
haven't.  If you've run "make test" successfully in your Python build
directory, I would imagine you've figured out "how to get Python up and
running on an Altix", and that the problem lives in the numarray code.  If
not, you probably need to ignore numarray for the time being while you debug
your basic Python configuration.

At first glance, it looks like whoever wrote to the block in question got
carried away and scribbled off the end of the block.  You might try gdb's
"watch" command to keep an eye on that address.  You'll probably want to be
careful when you set the watchpoint (whittle your failing test case down as
small as possible, set the watchpoint as close as possible to the error) to
avoid slowing your code down to an unmanageable crawl.

Skip