[Python-Dev] Compiling Python with Python

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 6:00 AM, Jussi Pakkanen <jpakkane at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 10:37 PM, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Since you're talking about a bootstrap requirement here, the obvious
>> question is: What version of Python 3 does it require? Will it be a
>> lot of hassle to get hold of (say) Python 3.2, only to uninstall it
>> when you have your 3.4 built?
>
>
> The implementation does not use deep Python magic such as C extensions or
> the like so it should work with future releases of Python. The current
> version requires 3.3 or newer but only because it uses a couple of pythonlib
> functions that were added at 3.3. Changing it to work with 3.2 or earlier
> should not be a big task.

Newer versions shouldn't be a problem, older ones will. I'm mainly
thinking about systems that can't just casually apt-get a Python 3.3.
With Ubuntu, most people probably don't even need to worry about
building from source, as there'll be a decently-recent Python in the
repo; but what happens when you're on Debian Squeeze and the only
Python 3 you can get is 3.1.3? Even Wheezy (the current stable Debian)
comes with only 3.2.

I do like the symmetry of using Python to build Python. But I also
like using Python 3.3+ for everything, and not having to support the
older Pythons. Unfortunately those two capacities clash, my lords,
they clash!

ChrisA