Skip to content
Snippets Groups Projects
README 34.4 KiB
Newer Older
  • Learn to ignore specific revisions
  • This is Python release 1.5 alpha 4
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    ******************************************
    *** RELEASE RESTRICTED TO PSA MEMBERS! ***
    ******************************************
    
    What's new in this release?
    ---------------------------
    
    Too much has changed to list it all here.  There's a loooong list of
    changes in Misc/NEWS.  This file is now *complete*: it has all changes
    made since 1.4 (all changes worth mentioning, anyway).  The complete
    list of changes since 1.5a4 is presented at the end of the file.  (It
    could still use a better organization.  Want to volunteer to add
    better structor or convert it to HTML?)
    
      - There's support in the readline module to change bindings and
      write your own command completer in Python.  An example completer is
      in rlcompleter.py.
    
      - The new re module is here.  It is based on Philip Hazel's pcre
      code; the Python interfaces were put together by Andrew Kuchling.
      The regex module is declared obsolete.  (The previous re
      implementation, obsolete though it is, is still available as
      re1.py, as a keepsake.)
    
      - All standard exceptions and most exceptions defined in standard
      extension modules are now classes.  Use python -X to revert back to
      string exceptions.  See
        http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/python/essays/stdexceptions.html
      for more info.
    
      - Sequence assignments no longer require exact matching of the type
      of sequence on the left- and right-hand side.  For example
        (a, b, c) = [1, 2, 3]
      is now legal.  (The lengths must still match exactly.)
    
      - dict.get(key, default) returns dict[key] if it exists, and default
      otherwise; default defaults to None.
    
      - Class objects now have a __module__ attribute giving the module
      name in which they were defined.
    
      - There is now built-in support for importing hierarchical module
      names (e.g. "import spam.ham.eggs"); ni is declared obsolete.  Note
      that the built-in package support is somewhat simpler (no __ and
      __domain__) and differs in one crucial aspect: __init__.py is loaded
      in the package's namespace instead of as a submodule.  See
        http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/python/essays/packages.html
      for more info.
    
      - A site can append items to the end of the default sys.path by
      placing directory names in files named *.pth in either
      $prefix/lib/site-python/ or $prefix/lib/python1.5/site-packages/.
      This is implemented in the module site.py which is now loaded by
      default at the end of initialization; use python -S to skip this.
      See
        http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/python/essays/packages.html
      for more info.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    Other important changes, if this is the first release you see since
    
    1.4:
    
      - It's much faster (almost twice for pystone.py -- see
      Tools/scripts.)
    
      - There's an assert statement.
    
    
      - In support of the re module, a new form of string literals is
      introduced, "raw strings": e.g. r"\n" is equal to "\\n".
    
      - Comparisons can now raise exceptions.
    
      - New dictionary methods: .clear(), .update(), .copy().
    
    
      - It's much smarter about the initial value for sys.path; you can
      control it easier using $PYTHONHOME (see the usage message, e.g. try
      ``python -h'').  In most situations, the interpreter can be
      installed at an arbitrary location without having to recompile.
    
    
      - The infamous killer joke, ehh, metaclass support, is now
      available.  See Demo/metaclasses/ for more info.
    
      - The build process now builds a single library (libpython1.5.a)
      which contains everything except for the main() entry point.  This
      makes life much easier for applications that embed Python.
    
      - Much better support for embedding, including threads, multiple
      interpreters(!), uninitialization, and access to the global
      interpreter lock.
    
      - There's a -O option that removes SET_LINENO instructions, assert
      statements and code prefixed with ``if __debug__: ...''.  (It still
      only makes a few percent difference, so don't get all worked up
      about this.)
    
    
      - The Grand Renaming is completed: all linker-visible symbols
      defined by Python now have a "Py" or "_Py" prefix, and the same is
      true for most macros and typedefs.
    
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
      - New regression test harness tests more.
    
    What is Python anyway?
    ----------------------
    
    Python is an interpreted object-oriented programming language, and is
    
    often compared to Tcl, Perl, Java or Scheme.  To find out more, point
    your browser to http://www.python.org/.
    
    
    A modest plug
    -------------
    
    ************************************************************************
    * Without your support, I won't be able to continue to work on 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!
    
    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.  Both
    tutorials (as well as most other sources) assume that you already know
    how to program -- if you'd like to write "Python for Dummies", I know
    a publisher who would like to talk to you...
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    There are now also several books on Python.  While these are still
    
    based on Python 1.3 or 1.4, the information in them is still 99%
    correct.  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 can read German, try:
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    
    	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. :-)
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    
    
    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.
    
    ==================
    
    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
    (http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/cgi-bin/faqw.py or
    http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html) for hints on what can go wrong,
    and how to fix it.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    
    
    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!
    
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    If the configure script fails or doesn't seem to find things that
    
    should be there, inspect the config.log file.  When you fix a
    configure problem, be sure to remove config.cache!
    
    If you get a warning for every file about the -Olimit option being no
    longer supported, you can ignore it.  There's no foolproof way to know
    whether this option is needed; all I can do is test whether it is
    accepted without error.  On some systems, e.g. older SGI compilers, it
    is essential for performance (specifically when compiling ceval.c,
    which has more basic blocks than the default limit of 1000).  If the
    warning bothers you, edit the Makefile to remove "-Olimit 1500" from
    the OPT variable.
    
    Platform specific notes
    -----------------------
    
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    (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!)
    
    64-bit platforms: The modules audioop, imageop and rgbimg don't work.
    	Don't try to enable them in the Modules/Setup file.  They
    	contain code that is quite wordsize sensitive.  (If you have a
    	fix, let me know!)
    
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    	should be okay.  Shared library support now works by default
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    	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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    	--with-thread.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    AIX:	A complete overhaul of the shared library support is now in
    
    	place.  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.
    
    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.
    
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    QNX:	Edit the top level Makefile to use the following compile options:
    	OPT = -Ox -Q -U_M_IX86 -U__WATCOMC__
    	Edit the Makefile in the Modules directory to read:
    	LDFLAGS = -N 48k
    
    
    Cray T3E: Konrad Hinsen writes:
    	1) Don't use gcc. It compiles Python/graminit.c into something that
    	   the Cray assembler doesn't like. Cray's cc seems to work fine.
    	2) Uncomment modules md5 (won't compile) and audioop (will crash
    	   the interpreter during the test suite).
    	If you run the test suite, two tests will fail (rotate and binascii),
    	but these are not the modules you'd expect to need on a Cray.
    
    
    SGI:	SGI's standard "make" utility (/bin/make or /usr/bin/make)
    	does not check whether a command actually changed the file it
    	is supposed to build.  This means that whenever you say "make"
    	it will redo the link step.  The remedy is to use SGI's much
    
    	smarter "smake " utility (/usr/sbin/smake), or GNU make.  If
    	you set the first line of the Makefile to #!/usr/sbin/smake
    	smake will be invoked by make (likewise for GNU make).
    
    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,
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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).
    
    
    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 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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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-1.5 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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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
    
    
    --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: This option is no longer supported.  To use GNU
    	readline, enable module "readline" in the Modules/Setup file.
    
    
    --with-thread: On most Unix systems, you can now use multiple threads.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    	To enable this, pass --with-thread.  (--with-threads is an
    	alias.)  If the library required for threads lives in a
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    	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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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
    (http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/cgi-bin/faqw.py or
    http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html) for more info.
    
    There's an excellent Emacs editing mode for Python code; see the file
    Misc/python-mode.el.  Originally written by the famous Tim Peters, it
    is now maintained by the equally famous Barry Warsaw
    <bwarsaw@cnri.reston.va.us>.  The latest version is online at
    ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/emacs/python-mode.el.  As you might expect of
    Barry (and even if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about :-),
    a configuration file for his cc-mode.el which selects the style used
    throughout most Python C source files is also provided; see the file
    Misc/ccpy-style.el.
    
    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.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    Ftp site
    --------
    
    Python's own ftp site is ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/.  There are
    
    numerous mirrors; see http://www.python.org/python/Mirrors.html for a
    list of mirror sites.
    
    
    
    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 (and the web site itself).  Click on the "search"
    
    link in the banner menu on any page of http://www.python.org/.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    
    
    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!  If you don't want to go public,
    send them to me <guido@python.org>.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    
    
    Questions
    ---------
    
    
    For help, if you can't find it in the manuals 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> (a group of
    volunteers which does *not* include me).  Because of my work and email
    volume, I'm often be slow in answering questions sent to me directly;
    I prefer to answer questions posted to the newsgroup.
    
    
    
    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.  Python
    supports all Tcl/Tk versions from version 7.5/4.1 through 8.0 (and it
    is expected that it will also work with newer versions).  Tcl/Tk
    7.4/4.0 is no longer supported.
    
    See http://www.sunlabs.com/research/tcl/ for more info on where to get
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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.
    
    
    A more recent introduction to Tkinter programming, by Fredrik Lundh,
    is at http://www.pythonware.com/library/tkinter/introduction/index.htm.
    
    
    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.)
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    
    
    Distribution structure
    ----------------------
    
    Most subdirectories have their own README file.  Most files have
    comments.
    
    
    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 useful 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
    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
    libpython1.5.a	The library archive
    
    python          The executable interpreter
    tags, TAGS      Tags files for vi and Emacs
    
    Author's address
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    ================
    
    CNRI
    1895 Preston White Drive
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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.
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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
    
    Guido van Rossum's avatar
    Guido van Rossum committed
    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/)