How to figure out if the platform is 32bit or 64bit?

[Paul McNett]

Gary Josack wrote:
> Trent Mick wrote:
>> Manuel Vazquez Acosta wrote:
>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>> Hash: SHA1
>>>
>>> Just test for maxint value:
>>>
>>> from sys import maxint
>>> if maxint >> 33:
>>>     print "more than 32 bits" # probably 64
>>> else:
>>>     print "32 bits"
>>
>> I believe that was already suggested in this thread. That test will 
>> just tell you if the Python *build* is 32-bit or 64-bit. If the answer 
>> is 32-bit, then that doesn't tell you if this is a 32-bit Python 
>> running on a 64-bit OS.
>>
>> Trent
>>
> have you tried platform.architecture()?

I just tried it:

WindowsXP in Parallels Desktop:
('32bit', 'WindowsPE')

Ubuntu 7.10 in Parallels Desktop:
('32bit', '')

Ubuntu 8.04 on a AMD64 Machine:
('64bit', '')

Mac 10.4 on a Intel64 Machine:
('32bit', '')

All look correct except for Mac.

Paul