how to do *simple* syntax checking?

[Preston Landers]

 Okay, I know there was an earlier thread regarding pre-distribution
syntax checking (and the virtual impossibility of same).

 I understand Python is a dynamicly typed language, and I have no real
need to be able to find previously undeclared names in code before I
run it.

 However, it would be enormously helpful for me to be able to do
*simple* checks on Python code at make/'make install' time.  Like
catching whitespace/indentation problems, missing semicolons, and the
like.

 I maintain a large set of Python programs, some of which are accessed
through a CGI interface.  I develop some code, run make install,
restart my web server (not always though) and then load up my URL.
Only to find "500 Internal Server Error."

 Usually, if it's not a namespace issue, it's something silly like a
missing semicolon.  But I have to track through the server logs to find
out what went wrong.

 I thought that Python's compile() function would be what I want,
because I thought that the SyntaxError exception was thrown when making
bytecode.  But that's not the case, unless I was notably un-thorough in
my investigation.

 Basically, what I want is to do something like this for every Python
program in my makefile:

try:
   simple_syntax_check("myfile.py")
except:
   # file is no good, abort make process

# ... continue with make

 Am I just dreaming? Is this unrealistic?  Or is this kind of thing
fully availible and documented and I am just blind?

thanks,

---Preston

--
|| Preston Landers <prestonlanders at my-deja.com> ||


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