[Pythonmac-SIG] can't link Python 2.4.1 against external libxml2 ...

[Robert Kern]

OpenMacNews wrote:
> hi robert,
> 
>>> *something's* expecting libxml2 to be there ...
>>
>>
>> I'll bet that it's either Cocoa or Carbon. In that case, you definitely
>> *don't* want it to use your own libxml2.
> 
> 
> makes possible sense in that there's a reference to 'Foundation', which 
> given your suspicion, refers to the OSX FoundationClass(es)? I.e., 
> Cocoa/Carbon?

Foundation is its own framework (see /System/Library/Frameworks) which 
is implicitly linked in by Cocoa and Carbon.

>    >>    ld: Undefined symbols:
>    >>    _xmlSAXUserParseMemory referenced from Foundation expected to be
>    >> defined in
>    >>    /usr/lib/libxml2.2.dylib
> 
> thought i'd be very hard pressed to prove or disprove ...
> 
>> Leave it be.
> 
> 
> Which is certainly good advice if that IS the case ... yet I'm still a 
> little foggy on the whole matter given Bob's earlier comment:
> 
>> either Python itself, nor any extension in the standard library, links to 
> 
> libxml.  What the heck are you talking about?
> 
> which, iiuc, would suggest no dependence whatsoever on libxml -- either 
> direct or indirect via Cocoa/Carbon.

No, he only meant directly, I'm sure.

> so, again,
> 
>> Leave it be.
> 
> 
> seems to be good advice.
> 
> what concerns me a bit is that 'other' apps i'm building depend on my 
> *external* libxml, and will -- eventually -- 'touch' some Python, which 
> will depend 'still' on the native (cocoa/carbon related) libxml ...
> 
> Will this 'version incompatibility' come back to bite me in the ass?  i 
> simply dunno.
> 
> short of understanding/resolving the libxml dependence i *am* seeing, I 
> guess I'll just have to wait and see when i get there =)

Always a good idea. Don't fix it until it breaks. And it probably won't.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter