[Pythonmac-SIG] readline: where and how installed?

[Bob Ippolito]

On Apr 12, 2006, at 3:20 PM, Zachary Pincus wrote:

>>> Now, in regards to the GDB issue: can anyone with the latest
>>> developer tools who also has the Universal Python build installed  
>>> try
>>> to run python under gdb? (I have a different install of python 2.4.3
>>> that I don't want to nuke by installing the universal build just to
>>> test this; otherwise I wouldn't ask).
>>> All you need to do is run
>>> 'gdb python'
>>> and then type
>>> 'run'
>>> and see if you get a python prompt, or
>>>> Program received signal SIGTRAP, Trace/breakpoint trap.
>>>> 0x8fe0100c in __dyld__dyld_start ()
>>>
>>> I think you'll get the latter because of how the Universal MacPython
>>> is a dummy application bundle that just does an execve to the real
>>> python. This is known to confuse at least some versions of gdb.
>>> Though, with any luck, the latest version of gdb that Apple shipped
>>> won't be confused in this way.
>>
>> Well, you could...
>
> It's good to have these different options listed in this email list  
> -- thanks. I just wanted to make sure that what was going on was  
> not an issue with Michael's slightly-old version of GDB, but a real  
> by-product of the new MacPython situation.
>
> Anyhow, I'm only pointing this out mostly to get this information  
> into the Google index, because this situation is bound to confuse  
> some folks when they first try to run 'gdb python' under the new  
> regime.
>
> While I'm sure that the execve stuff is a necessary evil (and  
> certainly less troublesome than the pythonw mess), it's worth  
> noting the little user-unfriendly situations like this that an  
> "ideal" solution to the problem would not have. I guess the ball is  
> rather in Apple's court to make things work better, but waiting  
> around for that to happen is probably a waste.

Yes, it is a necessary evil.  We'll have to live with it.  Apple  
isn't going to do a damned thing for us here, because they've had  
this particular design flaw since the beginning and have been aware  
of it for just about as long.

I would think that most gdb users already know how to cross an  
execve, but maybe I'm wrong.

> Also, what's the status of the MacPython branch vis a vis Python  
> 2.5? Are the needed changes already in the svn for python 2.5? Or  
> is the mac-specific branch going to stick around for a while? Just  
> curious.

Python 2.5 will hopefully have universal capability, but AFAIK the  
patches are not yet integrated.  Ronald is/was working on this, but  
I'm not sure what his progress is.

-bob