[XML-SIG] XML 0.5 problems

[Konrad Hinsen]

I just tried to install the latest XML package release, to make sure
that my XML exploration session planned for the Christmas vacation
won't be spoiled by technical problems. And here they are. I did the
test installation on an AIX 4.3 machine running Python 1.5.1.

1) At first try nothing looked right, and nothing worked. Some exploration
   revealed that my standard reflex of replacing Makefile.pre.in by
   my patched one was not such a good idea, because the XML package
   includes a modified version.
   I understand that this is the easiest way to handle installation,
   but it also presents problems:
   - Makefile.pre.in varies with Python versions
   - Some people need patched versions; for example, the standard
     version does not work for AIX.
   It wasn't much trouble for me to patch the file coming with XML
   to work with AIX, but only because I had also done the original
   patch. I recommend a more robust installation approach for the
   final release (perhaps a short Python script...)

2) I then tried some of the demos, again with little success. Some
   examples:

     cd unicode; python test.py 
     Traceback (innermost last):
       File "test.py", line 1, in ?
	 from xml.unicode import wstring
     ImportError: No module named unicode

     cd sax; python saxdemo.py 
     Traceback (innermost last):
       File "saxdemo.py", line 5, in ?
	 from xml.sax import saxexts, saxlib, saxutils
     ImportError: No module named sax

   Then I tried a few simple imports, with the result that I can
   import xml, but none of its subpackages, although all the
   directories exist and contain something that looks right.
   But all imports *do* work if the current directory is
   the xml-0.5 installation directory. I do have . in
   PYTHONPATH, which probably explains the difference. My
   conclusion: something is wrong with the installation!

Happy bug hunting,
  Konrad.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Konrad Hinsen                            | E-Mail: hinsen@cnrs-orleans.fr
Centre de Biophysique Moleculaire (CNRS) | Tel.: +33-2.38.25.55.69
Rue Charles Sadron                       | Fax:  +33-2.38.63.15.17
45071 Orleans Cedex 2                    | Deutsch/Esperanto/English/
France                                   | Nederlands/Francais
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------