On Sat, Oct 1, 2016 at 9:21 PM, Steve D'Aprano <steve+pyt...@pearwood.info> wrote: > Long story short: I have no working systems capable of compiling the latest > Python 3.6, and no time to upgrade my usual machines to something which > will work. > > However I do have access to another machine (actually a VM) which can > compile Python 3.6. It's not practical for me to use it as a my main > development machine, but as a temporary measure, I thought I could compile > 3.6 on this VM, then copy the python binary to my usual desktop machine. > > What sort of challenges am I likely to find? Both machines are Linux, but > different distros.
First off, are they the same CPU architecture? If not, you're going to have a lot of hassles. (This includes x86_64 vs i386. You *can* run a 32-bit Python on a 64-bit Linux, but it'll be a pain.) I'm going to assume that they are. Are both Linuxes of broadly similar vintage? The most likely problems you'll face will be library versions - CPython will happily link against any of several compatible versions of a library, but once it's linked against one, it'll want to find the same version thereafter. Worst case, you could symlink, but that could cause trouble when you upgrade, so I'd advise against it. In fact, your best bet might actually be to *minimize* the number of dev libraries on the build machine. You'll have build failures in optional modules (and thus less modules), but less chances of running into difficulties. Other than that, it should be possible. You'll probably want to export the built Python as a package manager file, eg using checkinstall [1] on Debian-based systems, as it'll be a lot easier to pick up and carry around. But it shouldn't be too hard even working manually. ChrisA [1] https://wiki.debian.org/CheckInstall -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
