HTTP GET Explodes...

[John Machin]

Pete wrote:
> John Machin wrote:
> > Pete wrote:
> > > Fade in to episode II...
> > >
> > > > ...
> > > > This is compiling a *constant* regular expression, and works OK on the
> > > > Windows distribution of Python 2.4.3 :
> > >
> > > Hmmmm. Here's the version information stuff:
> > >
> > > Python 2.4.2 (#1, Feb 12 2006, 03:59:46)
> > > [GCC 4.1.0 20060210 (Red Hat 4.1.0-0.24)] on linux2
> > >
> > > I'm going to upgrade Python and see if that has any effect...
> > > I'm running this on a Fedora Core 5 box...
> > >
> > > > ...
> > > > You appear to be running 2.4.n; what is n, and exactly which *x
> > > > platform are you running it on? Perhaps a file in /usr/lib/python2.4 is
> > > > corrupt, but we won't know until you give the *full* traceback. Do you
> > > > get the same results when you try what I did at the interpreter
> > > > interactive prompt?
> > >
> > > The error I received was from the interactive prompt thing.
> >
> > So I noticed from your first posting. Now do what you were asked: try
> > what I did.
> >
> > > Is there
> > > some way I can get more verbose information or something that would be
> > > more helpful?
> > >
> >
> > Yes, just include the whole traceback!!! Example of what I mean is
> > below:
>
> Here's my full interactive I/O:
>
> Python 2.4.3 (#1, Jun 13 2006, 11:46:08)
> [GCC 4.1.1 20060525 (Red Hat 4.1.1-1)] on linux2
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> >>> import httplib
> >>> conn = httplib.HTTPConnection("www.python.org")
> >>> conn.request("GET", "/index.html")
> Hello World.
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/httplib.py", line 804, in request
>     self._send_request(method, url, body, headers)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/httplib.py", line 821, in _send_request
>     self.putrequest(method, url, **skips)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/httplib.py", line 752, in putrequest
>     self.putheader('Host', self.host.encode("idna"))
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/encodings/__init__.py", line 96, in
> search_function
>     globals(), locals(), _import_tail)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/encodings/idna.py", line 6, in ?
>     dots = re.compile(u"[\u002E\u3002\uFF0E\uFF61]")
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre.py", line 180, in compile
>     return _compile(pattern, flags)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre.py", line 225, in _compile
>     p = sre_compile.compile(pattern, flags)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre_compile.py", line 500, in compile
>     code = _code(p, flags)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre_compile.py", line 481, in _code
>     _compile_info(code, p, flags)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre_compile.py", line 459, in _compile_info
>     _compile_charset(charset, flags, code)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre_compile.py", line 178, in
> _compile_charset
>     for op, av in _optimize_charset(charset, fixup):
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre_compile.py", line 221, in
> _optimize_charset
>     return _optimize_unicode(charset, fixup)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/sre_compile.py", line 341, in
> _optimize_unicode
>     mapping = array.array('b', mapping).tostring()
> TypeError: typecode argument must be a valid type.
> >>>
>
> >
> > | C:\junk>copy con wally.py
> > | guff = 1 / 0
> > | ^Z
> > |         1 file(s) copied.
> > |
> > | C:\junk>python
> > | Python 2.4.3 (#69, Mar 29 2006, 17:35:34) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)]
> > on win32
> > | Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
> > information.
> > | >>> import wally
> > | Traceback (most recent call last):
> > |   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
> >
> > Your posting appeared truncated when viewed with both Google groups and
> > in a regular newsreader.
>
> I clipped out stuff that didn't seem relevant. I didn't clip anything
> out this time.
>
> > There is no guarantee that the last line shown is the one that caused
> > the error.
> > Just as if this example were missing the following lines, we don't know
> > which
> > source line caused the error, nor even what the error was!!
> >
> > |   File "wally.py", line 1, in ?
> > |     guff = 1 / 0
> > | ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
> >
> > HTH,
> > John
>
> I'm still lost... Were you able to successfully run the GET example at
> http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/httplib-examples.html ?
>

Yes., but irrelevant -- I was also able (as demonstrated) to do the
re.compile(constant)  thing that was part-way down the traceback.

Moving right along:
1. The Hello World thing is really worrying.
2. The error message "typecode argument must be a valid type" doesn't
occur *anywhere* in the 2.4.3 source AFAICT. The string "typecode"
appears in only 2 modules, array and some Mac gadget. 'b' is a valid
typecode. The expected error message for invalid typecodes is:
Modules\arraymodule.c(1874): "bad typecode (must be c, b, B, u, h, H,
i, I, l, L, f or d)");

I checked in the Python subversion/cvs repository: it looked like that
(maybe fewer valid typecodes) back in the year 2000. It still looks
like that (latest revision: 24 August).

Conclusion: Your Python installation is well and truly stuffed. You
need advice from someone who knows how Python is set up for and
installed on your platform.

Good luck!
John