[Python-Dev] HP-UX clean-up

Wed Jan 7 10:32:28 EST 2004

 > Who *are* the folks with an HP-UX interest?
At ABAQUS Inc. we use Python on a variety of platforms,
including HP-UX, and we are in the process of upgrading
to Python-2.3.3.
We build in our own specialized build environment,
using the pyconfig.h files created by configure on each
platform.
In the past we have had to make several changes for HP-UX.
An important feature of the HP-UX build is that it should
be binary compatible for all HP-UX processors (there are at
least 10, maybe more, varieties). We have noticed
that Python optimizes for the native processor on which it is
built, and this can give problems on a different processor.
We therefore have to have flags that will force HP to compile
for some common generic processor.
This affects everyone who has to distribute Python as pre-built
binaries for customers, like we do (rather than building it on
customers' machines).
We are currently targeting:
 HP-UX 11.00 on PA-RISC 32-bit all processors
 HP-UX 11.00 on PA-RISC 64-bit all processors
 HP-UX 11.22 on Intel/Itanium 64-bit (both big- and little-endian 
setups)
 HP-UX 11.11 all processors
 HP-UX 11.i all processors
Andrew MacKeith
Cameron Laird wrote:
> Python generation for HP-UX is broken. I want to fix it.
>> Do I need to make the case for the first proposition? I think
> the threading problems are widely recognized ... This isn't
> an accusation of moral turpitude, incidentally; it just hasn't
> worked out to solve HP-UX difficulties, for plenty of legiti-
> mate reasons. I understand that.
>> I happened to try a vanilla generation of 2.3.3 under HP-UX 
> 10.20 yesterday, and encountered multiple non-trivial faults
> (curses, threading, ...). Experience tells me I'd find roughly
> the same level of problems with other releases of Python and
> HP-UX.
>> Do I need to make the case that fixing HP-UX (and eventually
> Irix and so on) is a Good Thing? I'll assume not, at least for 
> now.
>> I recognize that there's been a lot of churn in HP-UX fixes--
> tinkering with threading libraries, compilation options, and
> so on. I'm sensitive to such. My plan is to make conservative
> changes, ones unlikely to degrade the situation for other HP-UX
> users. I have plenty of porting background; I'm sure we can
> improve on what we have now.
>> Here's what I need:
> 1. Is it best to carry this on here, or should 
> those of us with HP-UX interests go off by
> ourselves for a while, and return once we've
> established consensus? I've been away, and
> don't feel I know the culture here well.
>> Who *are* the folks with an HP-UX interest?
> 2. Does anyone happen to have an executable
> built that can "import Tkinter"? That's my
> most immediate need. If you can share that
> with me, it'd help my own situation, and I'll
> continue to push for corrections in the
> standard distribution, anyway.
We do not use Tkinter.
>> I can compile _tkinter.c "by hand", but 
> (more details, later--the current point is
> just that stuff doesn't work automatically
> ...
> 3. I'm very rusty with setup.py. While I was
> around for its birth, as I recall, I feel
> clumsy with it now. Is there a write-up 
> anyone would recommend on good setup.py
> style? 
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