[Mailman-Developers] 2.0.5 and python 2.1?

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "RJ" == Ron Jarrell <jarrell@vt.edu> writes:

    RJ> My old machine was running 1.5.2, and I thought I'd turned
    RJ> everything on, but given the module config file has about
    RJ> 174,000 poorly documented bits to flip on or off, apparently I
    RJ> didn't.  I just went back to that machine and did a "from
    RJ> crypt import crypt", and sure enough, got an ImportError.
    RJ> However, on my new machine, which also has the USE_CRYPT set
    RJ> to 1, it turns out that yes, I can import crypt.  So I guess I
    RJ> got screwed by the fact that python actually has half a clue
    RJ> now as to what it's doing when it builds itself.

Yes.  By default, Python 2.1 will compile in everything it can find.
This wasn't the case for 1.5.2.

    RJ> However, I suspect the comments are wrong.  I ignored it back
    RJ> then because I didn't know, and the comment suggested that
    RJ> configure would do the right thing.  Obviously it didn't.  In
    RJ> fact, looking at the Defaults.py.in, it's just hard coded to
    RJ> *1*.

    RJ>  From looking at the code, what's doing the right thing is the
    RJ> Crypt.py module, which, if mm_cfg.USE_CRYPT is set, tries to
    RJ> import it, traps the error, and resets it on the fly.

    RJ> The comment in Defaults should probably be changed to "If you
    RJ> don't know, leave it at 1, and Crypt.py will do the right
    RJ> thing.  But if you don't have crypt, then upgrade python to
    RJ> include crypt, admin.py will start blowing up in strange and
    RJ> mysterious ways until you change this back to 0"...

A good explanation for why MM2.1 doesn't use crypt at all.  I'd add
this to the FAQ but I don't think there will be a MM 2.0.6 release.

-Barry