buffer interface problem

[Andrew Gillanders]

I have run into a problem running a Python script that is part of the  
TerraGear suite for building scenery for FlightGear. I am using Mac  
OS X 10.4, running Python (version 3.0.1) in a Unix terminal.

The purpose of the script is to walk a directory tree, unzipping  
files, and passing the contents to an executable C programme. The  
problem occurs here:

     gzin = GzipFile(fname, 'rb')
     data = gzin.readline()
     min_x,min_y = map(atoi,data.split()[:2])

The input file, when uncompressed, is an ASCII file with a line with  
two numbers, then a line of four numbers, then many long lines of  
numbers. I can see what the last is trying to do: split the string  
into two words, convert them to integers, and assign them to min_x  
and min_y.

At the third line, I get the message "expected an object with the  
buffer interface". Which object is it referring to? Have some  
functions been changed to pass buffer objects instead of strings? How  
can I fix the source code to make it run?

Any help appreciated
Andrew
(Python newbie)