What version of glibc is Python using?

[Nobody]

On Sat, 12 Oct 2013 05:43:22 -0600, Ian Kelly wrote:

> Easier said than done.  The module is currently written in pure
> Python, and the comment "Note: Please keep this module compatible to
> Python 1.5.2" would appear to rule out the use of ctypes to call the
> glibc function.

Last I heard, there was a standing policy to avoid using ctypes from
within the standard library. The stated rationale was that ctypes is
unsafe (it allows pure Python code to crash the process) and site
administrators should be able to remove the ctypes module without breaking
any part of the standard library other than ctypes itself.

There appear to be a few exceptions to this rule, i.e. a few standard
library modules import ctypes. But they are all within try/except blocks
(so they degrade gracefully if ctypes isn't present), and are limited to
improving the handling of edge cases rather than being essential to
providing documented functionality.