Ned Deily <n...@acm.org> added the comment: "Compilers are smart enough to pick the right architecture for them (xcode3 will build ppc/i386/x64 and xcode4 i386/x64"
Actually, that's not the case for Python builds. The architecture selection is based on what the builder of the Python interpreter specified on the ./configure command and/or the defaults programmed into ./configure which look at other settings like deployment target. For extension module builds, Distutils attempts to use compile settings that are compatible with those the interpreter was built with, allowing some values to be influenced by environment variable settings. In either case, the compiler has no say in the selection. "Some other considerations: think that "some" people may want to install packages to their OS provided Python and in this case the python that comes with 10.6 doesn't have a PPC arch." Actually, that's also not the case. The Apple-supplied Pythons in OS X 10.6 do have a PPC arch; try "file /usr/bin/python2.6" in a shell and you'll see there are three archs. It will even run on 10.6 in PPC emulation under Rosetta (try "arch -ppc /usr/bin/python2.6"), But I sense a misconception here. The python.org project has no say about what Apple does or doesn't do with regard to the system Pythons they supply in OS X. Python is an open-source project and many distributors (like Apple) build and release their own versions of Python. The PSF python.org project also builds and releases our own Windows and OS X binary installers. But what is shipped with OS X is up to Apple. For 10.6 the system python2.6 has a number of Apple-developed changes and add-ons. The fact that Xcode 4 has complicated extension module builds with the system Python 2.6 is an issue to be taken up with Apple; there's nothing we here can do about that other than to suggest some workarounds. And based on past experience, with the imminent release of 10.7, it's highly unlikely Apple will be making any non-security related changes to their Pythons in 10.6. We'll have to see what 10.7 brings. For the system Pythons on 10.6, the choice seems clear: either stick wi th Xcode 3 or resort to workarounds. What we can do here is try to make things better for users of the python.org source or binary installers for currently supported versions of Python. Documenting the tradeoffs of our current installer options is one step towards that. Hope that makes things clearer! ---------- _______________________________________ Python tracker <rep...@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue11623> _______________________________________ _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com
