[Python-Dev] Python 32- and 64-bit living together

[Sérgio Durigan Júnior]

Hi Martin,

On Fri, 2008-04-11 at 23:58 +0200, "Martin v. Löwis" wrote:
> > My question is simple:
> 
> It's also off-topic for python-dev, which is about the development
> of Python, not the development with Python.

With all respect, I think you're confusing things. I'm here trying to
find some solutions for Python's build system (which, AFAIK, is about
the development *of* Python), which I think is bogus on some systems.
I'm just trying to better understand how it works here, and maybe send
some patches if I find some solution for my problems.

> > is there any problem when installing/using both
> > 32- and 64-bit Python's on the same machine? I'm more concerned about
> > header files (those installed under /usr/include/python-2.x), because as
> > far as I could see there's nothing similar to a "#ifdef USE_64BIT" or
> > something on them.
> 
> You can't install them both into the same prefix (obviously, as they
> would overwrite their binary files).

I was thinking about renaming the binary files, since they're
(apparently) the only things that get overwritten *and* are dependent of
the bit size (32/64). The rest of the files that would be overwritten,
AFAIK, is not dependent of bitness so there's no problem at all. I think
this may work (actually, I did the same thing successfuly with Perl).

> 
> With two installation, use the header files you got from the 32-bit
> install for 32-bit extensions/embedding, and the header files you
> got from the 64-bit install for 64-bit extensions/embedding. The
> only header file that will actually differ is pyconfig.h.

If I correctly understand what you're saying, you're proposing
installing the header files in different places, right? Since these
files are the same (except for pyconfig.h, as you said), I assume that
the reason for this separation is only for safety. I'll consider your
proposal.

Regards,

-- 
Sérgio Durigan Júnior
Linux on Power Toolchain - Software Engineer
Linux Technology Center - LTC
IBM Brazil