mirror of
https://github.com/python/cpython.git
synced 2024-12-06 00:05:32 +08:00
733 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
733 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
This is Python release 1.5 alpha 2
|
|
==================================
|
|
|
|
******************************************
|
|
*** RELEASE RESTRICTED TO PSA MEMBERS! ***
|
|
******************************************
|
|
|
|
What's new in this release?
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
Ehm, I'll be more complete later. Som highlights: I've completed the
|
|
Grand Renaming. It's much faster (almost twice for pystone.py -- see
|
|
Tools/scripts.) There's an assert statement, and a -O option that
|
|
squeezes SET_LINENO instructions and if __debug__ code. It's much
|
|
smarter (only on Unix, so far) about the initial value for sys.path.
|
|
See the usage message (python -h). There's an explicit structure that
|
|
maintains all per-thread globals.
|
|
|
|
Unfinished projects: documentation; multiple independent interpreters;
|
|
better embedding support; more Windows support.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is Python anyway?
|
|
----------------------
|
|
|
|
Python is an interpreted object-oriented programming language, and is
|
|
often compared to Tcl, Perl, Java or Scheme. For a quick summary of
|
|
what Python can mean for a UNIX/C programmer, read Misc/BLURB.LUTZ.
|
|
If you have web access, point your browser to http://www.python.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
How do I learn Python?
|
|
----------------------
|
|
|
|
The official tutorial is still a good place to start (in the Doc
|
|
directory as tut.tex; and http://www.python.org/doc/tut/tut.html).
|
|
Aaron Watters wrote a second tutorial, that may be more accessible for
|
|
some: http://www.wcmh.com/uworld/archives/95/tutorial/005.html.
|
|
|
|
There are now also several books on Python. While these are still
|
|
based on Python 1.3 or 1.4, the language is so stable now that you'd
|
|
be hard pressed to find places where the books are out of date. The
|
|
first two books, both first published in October 1996 and both
|
|
including a CD-ROM, form excellent companions to each other:
|
|
|
|
Internet Programming with Python
|
|
by Aaron Watters, Guido van Rossum, and James Ahlstrom
|
|
MIS Press/Henry Holt publishers
|
|
ISBN: 1-55851-484-8
|
|
|
|
Programming Python
|
|
by Mark Lutz
|
|
O'Reilly & Associates
|
|
ISBN: 1-56592-197-6
|
|
|
|
If you prefer to read German, try:
|
|
|
|
Das Python-Buch
|
|
by Martin von Loewis and Nils Fischbeck
|
|
Addison-Wesley-Longman, 1997
|
|
ISBN: 3-8273-1110-1
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you don't read instructions
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Congratulations on getting this far. :-)
|
|
|
|
To start building right away (on UNIX): type "./configure" in the
|
|
current directory and when it finishes, type "make". The section
|
|
Build Instructions below is still recommended reading. :-)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright issues
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
Python is COPYRIGHTED but free to use for all. See the full copyright
|
|
notice at the end of this file.
|
|
|
|
The Python distribution is *not* affected by the GNU Public Licence
|
|
(GPL). There are interfaces to some GNU code but these are entirely
|
|
optional and no GNU code is distributed with Python. For all these
|
|
packages, GPL-free public domain versions also exist.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A modest plug
|
|
=============
|
|
|
|
*********************************************************************
|
|
* Without your help, I won't be able to continue to support Python! *
|
|
*********************************************************************
|
|
|
|
If you use Python, please consider joining the Python Software
|
|
Activity (PSA). See http://www.python.org/psa/.
|
|
|
|
Organizations that make heavy use of Python are especially encouraged
|
|
to become corporate members!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Build instructions
|
|
==================
|
|
|
|
Before you can build Python, you must first configure it.
|
|
Fortunately, the configuration and build process has been streamlined
|
|
for most Unix installations, so all you have to do is type a few
|
|
commands, optionally edit one file, and sit back. There are some
|
|
platforms where things are not quite as smooth; see the platform
|
|
specific notes below. If you want to build for multiple platforms
|
|
sharing the same source tree, see the section on VPATH below.
|
|
|
|
You start by running the script "./configure", which figures out your
|
|
system configuration and creates several Makefiles. (It takes a
|
|
minute or two -- please be patient!) When it's done, you are ready to
|
|
run make. You may want to pass options to the configure script -- see
|
|
the section below on configuration options and variables.
|
|
|
|
To build Python, you normally type "make" in the toplevel directory.
|
|
This will recursively run make in each of the subdirectories Parser,
|
|
Objects, Python and Modules, creating a library file in each one. The
|
|
executable of the interpreter is built in the Modules subdirectory and
|
|
moved up here when it is built. If you want or need to, you can also
|
|
chdir into each subdirectory in turn and run make there manually (do
|
|
the Modules subdirectory last!).
|
|
|
|
Once you have built an interpreter, see the subsections below on
|
|
testing, configuring additional modules, and installation. If you run
|
|
in trouble, see the next section.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Troubleshooting
|
|
---------------
|
|
|
|
See also the platform specific notes in the next section.
|
|
|
|
If recursive makes fail, try invoking make as "make MAKE=make".
|
|
|
|
If you run into other trouble, see section 3 of the FAQ (file
|
|
Misc/FAQ) for hints on what can go wrong, and how to fix it.
|
|
|
|
If you rerun the configure script with different options, remove all
|
|
object files by running "make clean" before rebuilding. Believe it or
|
|
not, "make clean" sometimes helps to clean up other inexplicable
|
|
problems as well. Try it before sending in a bug report!
|
|
|
|
If the configure script fails or doesn't seem to find things that
|
|
should be there, inspect the config.log file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Platform specific notes
|
|
-----------------------
|
|
|
|
(Some of these may no longer apply. If you find you can build Python
|
|
on these platforms without the special directions mentioned here, let
|
|
me know so I can remove them!)
|
|
|
|
Solaris: When using Sun's C compiler with threads, at least on Solaris
|
|
2.5.1, you need to add the "-mt" compiler option (the simplest
|
|
way is probably to specify the compiler with this option as
|
|
the "CC" environment variable when running the configure
|
|
script).
|
|
|
|
Linux: On Linux version 1.x, once you've built Python, use it to run
|
|
the regen script in the Lib/linux1 directory. Apparently
|
|
the files as distributed don't match the system headers on
|
|
some Linux versions. (The "h2py" command refers to
|
|
Tools/scripts/h2py.py.) The modules distributed for Linux 2.x
|
|
should be okay. Shared library support now works by default
|
|
on ELF-based x86 Linux systems. (Note: when you change the
|
|
status of a module from static to shared, you must remove its
|
|
.o file or do a "make clean".)
|
|
|
|
DEC Unix: When enabling threads, use --with-dec-threads, not
|
|
--with-thread.
|
|
|
|
AIX: A complete overhaul of the shared library support is now in
|
|
place. To enable it, uncomment the LINKCC line in the Setup
|
|
file. See Misc/AIX-NOTES for some notes on how it's done.
|
|
|
|
WARNING! In some versions of AIX, you get errors about
|
|
Invalid Indent when running the Python test set. This appears
|
|
to be a bug in the AIX compiler. Rebuild Parser/tokenizer.c
|
|
using OPT="" or OPT=-g, or use gcc. According to the latest
|
|
reports, it seems this compiler bug is still present in 4.2.1.
|
|
|
|
HP-UX: Shared library support now works by default (at least on HP-UX
|
|
9.x). One other problem remains: the HP ANSI C compiler (cc
|
|
-Aa) is too pedantic to use, but in K&R mode, it barfs on a
|
|
few files (complexobject.c, getargs.c and operator.c). Until
|
|
this is fixed, the following seems to work:
|
|
|
|
make -k # this compiles all but a few files
|
|
make OPT=-Aa # compile the remaining files
|
|
|
|
Minix: When using ack, use "CC=cc AR=aal RANLIB=: ./configure"!
|
|
|
|
SCO: 1) Everything works much better if you add -U__STDC__ to the
|
|
defs. This is because all the SCO header files are broken.
|
|
Anything that isn't mentioned in the C standard it's
|
|
conditionally excluded when __STDC__ is defined.
|
|
|
|
2) Due to the U.S. export restrictions, SCO broke the crypt
|
|
stuff out into a separate library, libcrypt_i.a so the LIBS
|
|
needed be set to:
|
|
|
|
LIBS=' -lsocket -lcrypt_i'
|
|
|
|
3) According to at least one report, the above apply only to
|
|
SCO 3 -- Python builds out of the box on SCO 5.
|
|
|
|
SunOS: On SunOS 4.1.x, when using the SunPro C compiler, you may want
|
|
to use the '-Xa' option instead of '-Xc', to enable some
|
|
needed non-ANSI Sunisms.
|
|
|
|
NeXT: To build fat binaries, use the --with-next-archs switch
|
|
described below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Configuring additional built-in modules
|
|
---------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
You can configure the interpreter to contain fewer or more built-in
|
|
modules by editing the file Modules/Setup. This file is initially
|
|
copied (when the toplevel Makefile makes Modules/Makefile for the
|
|
first time) from Setup.in; if it does not exist yet, make a copy
|
|
yourself. Never edit Setup.in -- always edit Setup. Read the
|
|
comments in the file for information on what kind of edits you can
|
|
make. When you have edited Setup, Makefile and config.c in Modules
|
|
will automatically be rebuilt the next time you run make in the
|
|
toplevel directory. (When working inside the Modules directory, use
|
|
"make Makefile; make".)
|
|
|
|
The default collection of modules should build on any Unix system, but
|
|
many optional modules should work on all modern Unices (e.g. try dbm,
|
|
nis, termios, timing, syslog, curses, new, soundex, parser). Often
|
|
the quickest way to determine whether a particular module works or not
|
|
is to see if it will build: enable it in Setup, then if you get
|
|
compilation or link errors, disable it -- you're missing support.
|
|
|
|
On SGI IRIX, there are modules that interface to many SGI specific
|
|
system libraries, e.g. the GL library and the audio hardware.
|
|
|
|
For SunOS and Solaris, enable module "sunaudiodev" to support the
|
|
audio device.
|
|
|
|
In addition to the file Setup, you can also edit the file Setup.local.
|
|
(the makesetup script processes both). You may find it more
|
|
convenient to edit Setup.local and leave Setup alone. Then, when
|
|
installing a new Python version, you can copy your old Setup.local
|
|
file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Setting the optimization/debugging options
|
|
------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
If you want or need to change the optimization/debugging options for
|
|
the C compiler, assign to the OPT variable on the toplevel make
|
|
command; e.g. "make OPT=-g" will build a debugging version of Python
|
|
on most platforms. The default is OPT=-O; a value for OPT in the
|
|
environment when the configure script is run overrides this default
|
|
(likewise for CC; and the initial value for LIBS is used as the base
|
|
set of libraries to link with).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing
|
|
-------
|
|
|
|
To test the interpreter that you have just built, type "make test".
|
|
This runs the test set twice (once with no compiled files, once with
|
|
the compiled files left by the previous test run). The test set
|
|
produces some output. You can generally ignore the messages about
|
|
skipped tests due to an optional feature that can't be imported (if
|
|
you want to test those modules, edit Modules/Setup to configure them).
|
|
If a messages is printed about a failed test or a traceback or core
|
|
dump is produced, something's wrong. On some systems, test_strftime
|
|
fails due to a non-standard implementation of strftime() in the C
|
|
library. This can be ignored (or you can complain to your vendor).
|
|
|
|
IMPORTANT: If the tests fail and you decide to mail a bug report,
|
|
*don't* include the output of "make test". It is useless. Run the
|
|
test that fails manually, as follows:
|
|
|
|
python ../Lib/test/test_whatever.py
|
|
|
|
(substituting the top of the source tree for .. if you built in a
|
|
different directory). This runs the test in verbose mode.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Installing
|
|
----------
|
|
|
|
Installing Python was never this easy!
|
|
|
|
To install the Python binary, library modules, shared library modules
|
|
(see below), include files, configuration files, and the manual page,
|
|
just type "make install". This will install all platform-independent
|
|
files in subdirectories the directory given with the --prefix option
|
|
to configure or the 'prefix' Make variable (default /usr/local), and
|
|
all binary and other platform-specific files in subdirectories if the
|
|
directory given by --exec-prefix or the 'exec_prefix' Make variable
|
|
(defaults to the --prefix directory). All subdirectories created will
|
|
have Python's version number in their name, e.g. the library modules
|
|
are installed in "/usr/local/lib/python1.5/" by default. The Python
|
|
binary is installed as "python1.5" and a hard link named "python" is
|
|
created. The only file not installed with a version number in its
|
|
name is the manual page, installed as "/usr/local/man/man1/python.1"
|
|
by default.
|
|
|
|
If you have a previous installation of a pre-1.4 Python that you don't
|
|
want to replace yet, use "make altinstall". This installs the same
|
|
set of files as "make install" except it doesn't create the hard link
|
|
to "python1.5" named "python" and it doesn't install the manual page
|
|
at all.
|
|
|
|
The only thing you may have to install manually is the Python mode for
|
|
Emacs. (But then again, more recent versions of Emacs may already
|
|
have it!) This is the file Misc/python-mode.el; follow the
|
|
instructions that came with Emacs for installation of site specific
|
|
files.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Configuration options and variables
|
|
-----------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Some special cases are handled by passing options to the configure
|
|
script.
|
|
|
|
WARNING: if you rerun the configure script with different options, you
|
|
must run "make clean" before rebuilding. Exceptions to this rule:
|
|
after changing --prefix or --exec-prefix, all you need to do is remove
|
|
Modules/getpath.o; after changing --with-readline, just remove
|
|
Parser/myreadline.o (but if it doesn't seem to work, always try "make
|
|
clean" before giving up or complaining!).
|
|
|
|
--with(out)-gcc: The configure script uses gcc (the GNU C compiler) if
|
|
it finds it. If you don't want this, or if this compiler is
|
|
installed but broken on your platform, pass the option
|
|
--without-gcc. You can also pass "CC=cc" (or whatever the
|
|
name of the proper C compiler is) in the environment, but the
|
|
advantage of using --without-gcc is that this option is
|
|
remembered by the config.status script for its --recheck
|
|
option.
|
|
|
|
--prefix, --exec-prefix: If you want to install the binaries and the
|
|
Python library somewhere else than in /usr/local/{bin,lib},
|
|
you can pass the option --prefix=DIRECTORY; the interpreter
|
|
binary will be installed as DIRECTORY/bin/python and the
|
|
library files as DIRECTORY/lib/python/*. If you pass
|
|
--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY (as well) this overrides the
|
|
installation prefix for architecture-dependent files (like the
|
|
interpreter binary). Note that --prefix=DIRECTORY also
|
|
affects the default module search path (sys.path), when
|
|
Modules/config.c is compiled. Passing make the option
|
|
prefix=DIRECTORY (and/or exec_prefix=DIRECTORY) overrides the
|
|
prefix set at configuration time; this may be more convenient
|
|
than re-running the configure script if you change your mind
|
|
about the install prefix...
|
|
|
|
--with-readline: You can use the GNU readline library to improve the
|
|
interactive user interface. This gives you line editing and
|
|
command history when calling Python interactively. Unless GNU
|
|
readline is a standard part of your system (it is on Linux),
|
|
you need to configure build the GNU readline library before
|
|
running the configure script. Its sources are not distributed
|
|
with Python; you can ftp them from any GNU mirror site, or
|
|
from its home site:
|
|
ftp://slc2.ins.cwru.edu/pub/dist/readline-2.0.tar.gz (or
|
|
a higher version number -- using version 1.x is not
|
|
recommended).
|
|
|
|
A GPL-free version was posted to comp.sources.misc in volume
|
|
31 and is widely available from FTP archive sites, e.g.
|
|
ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/.
|
|
|
|
Pass the Python configure script the option
|
|
--with-readline=DIRECTORY where DIRECTORY is the absolute
|
|
pathname of the directory where you've built the readline
|
|
library. If GNU readline is a standard part of your system,
|
|
don't pass '=DIRECTORY'. Some hints on building and using the
|
|
readline library are in the FAQ (file Misc/FAQ).
|
|
|
|
--with-thread: On most Unix systems, you can now use multiple threads.
|
|
To enable this, pass --with-thread. (--with-threads is an
|
|
alias.) If the library required for threads lives in a
|
|
peculiar place, you can use --with-thread=DIRECTORY. NOTE:
|
|
you must also enable the thread module by uncommenting it in
|
|
the Modules/Setup file. (Threads aren't enabled automatically
|
|
because there are run-time penalties when support for them is
|
|
compiled in even if you don't use them.) IMPORTANT: run "make
|
|
clean" after changing (either enabling or disabling) this
|
|
option! Note: for DEC Unix use --with-dec-threads instead.
|
|
|
|
--with-sgi-dl: On SGI IRIX 4, dynamic loading of extension modules is
|
|
supported by the "dl" library by Jack Jansen, which is
|
|
ftp'able from ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-1.6.tar.Z.
|
|
This is enabled (after you've ftp'ed and compiled the dl
|
|
library!) by passing --with-sgi-dl=DIRECTORY where DIRECTORY
|
|
is the absolute pathname of the dl library. (Don't bother on
|
|
IRIX 5, it already has dynamic linking using SunOS style
|
|
shared libraries.) Support for this feature is deprecated.
|
|
|
|
--with-dl-dld: Dynamic loading of modules is rumoured to be supported
|
|
on some other systems: VAX (Ultrix), Sun3 (SunOS 3.4), Sequent
|
|
Symmetry (Dynix), and Atari ST. This is done using a
|
|
combination of the GNU dynamic loading package
|
|
(ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dl-dld-1.1.tar.Z) and an
|
|
emulation of the SGI dl library mentioned above (the emulation
|
|
can be found at
|
|
ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/dynload/dld-3.2.3.tar.Z). To
|
|
enable this, ftp and compile both libraries, then call the
|
|
configure passing it the option
|
|
--with-dl-dld=DL_DIRECTORY,DLD_DIRECTORY where DL_DIRECTORY is
|
|
the absolute pathname of the dl emulation library and
|
|
DLD_DIRECTORY is the absolute pathname of the GNU dld library.
|
|
(Don't bother on SunOS 4 or 5, they already have dynamic
|
|
linking using shared libraries.) Support for this feature is
|
|
deprecated.
|
|
|
|
--with-libm, --with-libc: It is possible to specify alternative
|
|
versions for the Math library (default -lm) and the C library
|
|
(default the empty string) using the options
|
|
--with-libm=STRING and --with-libc=STRING, respectively. E.g.
|
|
if your system requires that you pass -lc_s to the C compiler
|
|
to use the shared C library, you can pass --with-libc=-lc_s.
|
|
These libraries are passed after all other libraries, the C
|
|
library last.
|
|
|
|
--with-next-archs='arch1 arch2': Under NEXTSTEP, this will build
|
|
all compiled binaries with the architectures listed. Includes
|
|
correctly setting the target architecture specific resource
|
|
directory. (This option is not supported on other platforms.)
|
|
|
|
--with-libs='libs': Add 'libs' to the LIBS that the python
|
|
linked against.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Building for multiple architectures (using the VPATH feature)
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
If your file system is shared between multiple architectures, it
|
|
usually is not necessary to make copies of the sources for each
|
|
architecture you want to support. If the make program supports the
|
|
VPATH feature, you can create an empty build directory for each
|
|
architecture, and in each directory run the configure script (on the
|
|
appropriate machine with the appropriate options). This creates the
|
|
necessary subdirectories and the Makefiles therein. The Makefiles
|
|
contain a line VPATH=... which points to directory containing the
|
|
actual sources. (On SGI systems, use "smake -J1" instead of "make" if
|
|
you use VPATH -- don't try gnumake.)
|
|
|
|
For example, the following is all you need to build a minimal Python
|
|
in /usr/tmp/python (assuming ~guido/src/python is the toplevel
|
|
directory and you want to build in /usr/tmp/python):
|
|
|
|
$ mkdir /usr/tmp/python
|
|
$ cd /usr/tmp/python
|
|
$ ~guido/src/python/configure
|
|
[...]
|
|
$ make
|
|
[...]
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
Note that Modules/Makefile copies the original Setup file to the build
|
|
directory if it finds no Setup file there. This means that you can
|
|
edit the Setup file for each architecture independently. For this
|
|
reason, subsequent changes to the original Setup file are not tracked
|
|
automatically, as they might overwrite local changes. To force a copy
|
|
of a changed original Setup file, delete the target Setup file. (The
|
|
makesetup script supports multiple input files, so if you want to be
|
|
fancy you can change the rules to create an empty Setup.local if it
|
|
doesn't exist and run it with arguments $(srcdir)/Setup Setup.local;
|
|
however this assumes that you only need to add modules.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Building on non-UNIX systems
|
|
----------------------------
|
|
|
|
Building Python for a PC is now a piece of cake!
|
|
|
|
Enter the directory "PC" and read the file "readme.txt". Most popular
|
|
non-Unix PC platforms and compilers are supported (Unix ports to the
|
|
PC such as Linux, FreeBSD or Solaris-x86 of course use the standard
|
|
Unix build instructions).
|
|
|
|
For the Mac, a separate source distribution will be made available,
|
|
for use with the CodeWarrior compiler. If you are interested in Mac
|
|
development, join the PythonMac Special Interest Group
|
|
(http://www.python.org/sigs/pythonmac-sig/, or send email to
|
|
pythonmac-sig-request@python.org).
|
|
|
|
Of course, there are also binary distributions available for these
|
|
platforms -- see http://www.python.org/python/.
|
|
|
|
To port Python to a new non-UNIX system, you will have to fake the
|
|
effect of running the configure script manually (for Mac and PC, this
|
|
has already been done for you). A good start is to copy the file
|
|
config.h.in to config.h and edit the latter to reflect the actual
|
|
configuration of your system. Most symbols must simply be defined as
|
|
1 only if the corresponding feature is present and can be left alone
|
|
otherwise; however RETSIGTYPE must always be defined, either as int or
|
|
as void, and the *_t type symbols must be defined as some variant of
|
|
int if they need to be defined at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miscellaneous issues
|
|
====================
|
|
|
|
Documentation
|
|
-------------
|
|
|
|
All documentation is provided in the subdirectory Doc in the form of
|
|
LaTeX files. In order of importance for new users: Tutorial (tut),
|
|
Library Reference (lib), Language Reference (ref), Extending (ext).
|
|
Especially the Library Reference is of immense value since much of
|
|
Python's power (including the built-in data types and functions!) is
|
|
described here.
|
|
|
|
To print the documentation from the LaTeX files, chdir into the Doc
|
|
subdirectory, type "make" (let's hope you have LaTeX installed!), and
|
|
send the four resulting PostScript files (tut.ps, lib.ps, ref.ps, and
|
|
ext.ps) to the printer. See the README file there. If you don't have
|
|
LaTeX, you can ftp the PostScript files from the ftp archives (see
|
|
below).
|
|
|
|
All documentation is also available on-line via the Python web site
|
|
(http://www.python.org/, see below). It can also be downloaded
|
|
separately from the ftp archives (see below) in Emacs INFO, HTML or
|
|
PostScript form -- see the web site or the FAQ (file Misc/FAQ) for
|
|
more info.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Emacs mode
|
|
----------
|
|
|
|
There's an excellent Emacs editing mode for Python code; see the file
|
|
Misc/python-mode.el. Originally written by Tim Peters, it is now
|
|
maintained by Barry Warsaw <bwarsaw@cnri.reston.va.us>.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Web site
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
Python's own web site has URL http://www.python.org/. Come visit us!
|
|
There are a number of mirrors, listed on the home page -- try a mirror
|
|
that's close you you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ftp site
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
Python's own ftp site is ftp.python.org, directory /pub/python. See
|
|
the FAQ (file Misc/FAQ) for a list of other ftp sites carrying the
|
|
Python distribution.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Newsgroup and mailing list
|
|
--------------------------
|
|
|
|
There are a newsgroup and a mailing list devoted to Python. The
|
|
newsgroup, comp.lang.python, contains exactly the same messages as the
|
|
mailing list (though not always in the same order, due to the
|
|
mysterious nature of the Usenet news distribution algorithm). To
|
|
subscribe to the mailing list, send mail containing your real name and
|
|
e-mail address to "python-list-request@cwi.nl". Use the same address
|
|
if you want to unsibscribed. (A real person reads these messages, so
|
|
no LISTPROC or Majordomo commands, please, and please be patient --
|
|
normal turn-around time is about one working day.)
|
|
|
|
The Python web site contains a search form that lets you search the
|
|
newsgroup archives (or the web site itself). Click on the "search"
|
|
link in the banner menu on any page of http://www.python.org/.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bug reports
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
Bugs are best reported to the comp.lang.python newsgroup or the Python
|
|
mailing list -- see the section "Newsgroup and mailing list" above.
|
|
Before posting, check the newsgroup archives (see above) to see if
|
|
your bug has already been reported!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Questions
|
|
---------
|
|
|
|
For help, if you can't find it in the manuals, the FAQ or on the web
|
|
site, it's best to post to the comp.lang.python or the Python mailing
|
|
list (see above). If you specifically don't want to involve the
|
|
newsgroup or mailing list, send questions to python-help@python.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Tk interface
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
Tk (the user interface component of John Ousterhout's Tcl language) is
|
|
also usable from Python. Since this requires that you first build and
|
|
install Tcl/Tk, the Tk interface is not enabled by default. It works
|
|
with Tcl 7.5 and Tk 4.1 as well as with Tcl 7.4 and Tk 4.0. I didn't
|
|
have the time to test it with Tcl 7.6 and Tk 4.2 yet, but it might
|
|
well work.
|
|
|
|
See http://www.sunlabs.com/research/tcl/ for more info on where to get
|
|
Tcl/Tk. Also http://sunscript.sun.com/.
|
|
|
|
To enable the Python/Tk interface, once you've built and installed
|
|
Tcl/Tk, all you need to do is edit two lines in Modules/Setup; search
|
|
for the string "_tkinter". Uncomment one (normally the first) of the
|
|
lines beginning with "#_tkinter" and un-comment the line beginning
|
|
with "#TKPATH". If you have installed Tcl/Tk or X11 in unusual
|
|
places, you will have to edit the first line to fix or add -I and -L
|
|
options. See the Build Instructions above for more details.
|
|
|
|
There is little documentation on how to use Tkinter; however most of
|
|
the Tk manual pages apply quite straightforwardly. Begin with
|
|
fetching the "Tk Lifesaver" document,
|
|
e.g. ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/doc/tkinter-doc.tar.gz (a gzipped
|
|
tar file containing a PostScript file) or the on-line version
|
|
http://www.python.org/doc/life-preserver/index.html. Reading the
|
|
Tkinter.py source will reveal most details on how Tkinter calls are
|
|
translated into Tcl code.
|
|
|
|
There are demos in the Demo/tkinter directory, in the subdirectories
|
|
guido, matt and www (the matt and guido subdirectories have been
|
|
overhauled to use more recent Tkinter coding conventions).
|
|
|
|
Note that there's a Python module called "Tkinter" (capital T) which
|
|
lives in Lib/tkinter/Tkinter.py, and a C module called "_tkinter"
|
|
(lower case t and leading underscore) which lives in
|
|
Modules/_tkinter.c. Demos and normal Tk applications only import the
|
|
Python Tkinter module -- only the latter uses the C _tkinter module
|
|
directly. In order to find the C _tkinter module, it must be compiled
|
|
and linked into the Python interpreter -- the _tkinter line in the
|
|
Setup file does this. In order to find the Python Tkinter module,
|
|
sys.path must be set correctly -- the TKPATH assignment in the Setup
|
|
file takes care of this, but only if you install Python properly
|
|
("make install libinstall"). (You can also use dynamic loading for
|
|
the C _tkinter module, in which case you must manually fix up sys.path
|
|
or set $PYTHONPATH for the Python Tkinter module.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Distribution structure
|
|
----------------------
|
|
|
|
Most subdirectories have their own README file. Most files have
|
|
comments.
|
|
|
|
BUGS A list of known bugs (not completely up-to-date)
|
|
Demo/ Demonstration scripts, modules and programs
|
|
Doc/ Documentation (LaTeX sources)
|
|
Grammar/ Input for the parser generator
|
|
Include/ Public header files
|
|
Lib/ Python library modules
|
|
Makefile.in Source from which config.status creates Makefile
|
|
Misc/ Miscellaneous files
|
|
Modules/ Implementation of most built-in modules
|
|
Objects/ Implementation of most built-in object types
|
|
PC/ PC porting files (DOS, Windows, NT, OS/2)
|
|
Parser/ The parser and tokenizer and their input handling
|
|
Python/ The "compiler" and interpreter
|
|
README The file you're reading now
|
|
TODO A list of things that could be done (not up-to-date)
|
|
Tools/ Some useful programs written in Python
|
|
acconfig.h Additional input for the autoheader program
|
|
config.h.in Source from which config.status creates config.h
|
|
configure Configuration shell script (GNU autoconf output)
|
|
configure.in Configuration specification (GNU autoconf input)
|
|
install-sh Shell script used to install files
|
|
|
|
The following files will (may) be created in the toplevel directory by
|
|
the configuration and build processes:
|
|
|
|
Makefile Build rules
|
|
config.cache cache of configuration variables
|
|
config.h Configuration header
|
|
config.log log from last configure run
|
|
config.status status from last run of configure script
|
|
python The executable interpreter
|
|
tags, TAGS Tags files for vi and Emacs
|
|
|
|
|
|
Author's address
|
|
================
|
|
|
|
Guido van Rossum
|
|
CNRI
|
|
1895 Preston White Drive
|
|
Reston, VA 20191
|
|
USA
|
|
|
|
E-mail: guido@cnri.reston.va.us or guido@python.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright notice
|
|
================
|
|
|
|
The Python source is copyrighted, but you can freely use and copy it
|
|
as long as you don't change or remove the copyright notice:
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Copyright 1991-1995 by Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam,
|
|
The Netherlands.
|
|
|
|
All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
|
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
|
|
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
|
|
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
|
|
both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
|
|
supporting documentation, and that the names of Stichting Mathematisch
|
|
Centrum or CWI or Corporation for National Research Initiatives or
|
|
CNRI not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to
|
|
distribution of the software without specific, written prior
|
|
permission.
|
|
|
|
While CWI is the initial source for this software, a modified version
|
|
is made available by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives
|
|
(CNRI) at the Internet address ftp://ftp.python.org.
|
|
|
|
STICHTING MATHEMATISCH CENTRUM AND CNRI DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH
|
|
REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
|
|
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL STICHTING MATHEMATISCH
|
|
CENTRUM OR CNRI BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL
|
|
DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
|
|
PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
|
|
TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
|
|
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
|