Installing Python 2.3.1 on Irix 6.5

[Nick Hawthorn]

I've just installed Python 2.3.1 on a SGI system running Irix 6.5,
using the SGI versions of cc and CC, as the local gcc is broken.
There were a lot of error messages, which seems to be normal. I'd
like to hear comments about how usable the resulting Python is likely
to be, and how to fix some of the install errors. So far I don't
know Python. I plan to learn it on this system, which is also where
it is needed.

Here is how I did the installation:-
[ extract a fresh copy of all the files from Python-2.3.1.tgz ]
configure --with-cxx=CC 1>../configure.log 2>../configure.err
[ edit makefile so that
prefix= /dept/med_psyc/nhn/python
because I don't have root access. Later the sysadmin may be
persuaded to install Python for everyone.
]
make 1>../make.log 2>../make.err
make test 1>../maketest.log 2>../maketest.err
make install 1>../install.log 2>../install.err

Output from the configure command included these error messages:-
configure: WARNING: term.h: present but cannot be compiled
configure: WARNING: term.h: check for missing prerequisite headers?
configure: WARNING: term.h: proceeding with the preprocessor's result
configure: WARNING: ## ------------------------------------ ##
configure: WARNING: ## Report this to bug-autoconf@gnu.or g. ##
configure: WARNING: ## ------------------------------------ ##
I did send off a bug report; the very nice reply said "This issue is
known, and is being addressed." I reckon term.h needs to have
curses.h included before it. This causes quite a few error mesages.

Output from "make test" finished with this summary:-
209 tests OK.
8 tests failed:
test___all__ test_coercion test_locale test_logging test_mimetools
test_socket test_sundry test_urllib2
38 tests skipped:
test_aepack test_al test_asynchat test_bsddb test_bsddb185
test_bsddb3 test_bz2 test_cd test_cl test_curses test_dl
test_email_code cs test_gdbm test_gl test_gzip test_imgfile
test_ioctl test_linuxaudio dev test_macfs test_macostools test_mpz
test_nis test_normalizat ion test_ossaudiode v test_pep277
test_plistlib test_pty test_scriptpack ages test_socket_ssl
test_socketserv er test_sunaudiode v test_timeout test_urllibnet
test_winreg test_winsound test_zipfile test_zipimport test_zlib
Ask someone to teach regrtest.py about which tests are
expected to get skipped on irix6.

All comments welcome. Sorry this is so long.

Thanks in advance,
Nick Hawthorn nhn at hpc2 dot auckland dot ac dot nz

[Scott David Daniels]

Re: Installing Python 2.3.1 on Irix 6.5

Nick Hawthorn wrote:
[color=blue]
> I've just installed Python 2.3.1 on a SGI system running Irix 6.5,
> using the SGI versions of cc and CC, as the local gcc is broken....[/color]
It would be a ood idea to wait just a few days, 2.3.2 is on its way
out the door (there was a glitch in 2.3.1). Sorry I don't have any
good notes on your actual issues, but the following might apply:

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-October/038479.html

-Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels@A cm.Org

[Michael Hudson]

Re: Installing Python 2.3.1 on Irix 6.5

Scott David Daniels <Scott.Daniels@ Acm.Org> writes:
[color=blue]
> Nick Hawthorn wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I've just installed Python 2.3.1 on a SGI system running Irix 6.5,
> > using the SGI versions of cc and CC, as the local gcc is broken....[/color]
> It would be a ood idea to wait just a few days, 2.3.2 is on its way
> out the door (there was a glitch in 2.3.1).[/color]

Even better would be to try the 2.3.2 release candidate...

(why do so many systems have broken headers?)

Cheers,
mwh

--
Two decades later, well-known hacker Henry Spencer described the
Perl scripting language as a "Swiss-Army chainsaw", intending to
convey his evaluation of the language as exceedingly powerful but
ugly and noisy and prone to belch noxious fumes. -- the jargon file