[Tutor] ImportError: No module named '_sysconfigdata_m'

[Albert-Jan Roskam]

----- Original Message -----

> From: Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin at gmail.com>
> To: Albert-Jan Roskam <fomcl at yahoo.com>
> Cc: Python Mailing List <tutor at python.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 2:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [Tutor] ImportError: No module named '_sysconfigdata_m'

<snip>

>>  I was planning to reply after I had the chance to do some checks that were 
> suggested (I am on a Windows computer now) but I can't resist replying now.  
> I am using Linux Mint XFCE. I have to look up the exact version number. I 
> recently downloaded and installed Python 3.3. I downloaded the tarball and 
> compiled, tested and installed everything as per instructions in the (readme? 
> install?) file. There where hundreds of tests and I confess I didn't closely 
> study the test results (some would fail anyway, such as winreg). Apart from the 
> behavior that I posted, everything appears to work normally (phew) If I type 
> "python", python 2.7 fires up. Also, I entirely removed python 3.2 
> (sudo rm -rf $(which python3.2), IIRC), which came with Linux Mint. Not sure if 
> this is relevant, but I also installed Tox ,which is a wrapper for virtualenv 
> that makes it easy to e.g. run nosetests with different python versions.
>> 
>> 
>>  OoooOoOoh, I hope Steven is not correct that I messed up the Python version 
> that my OS uses. ;-)
> 
> If you want to mess with your system 'sudo rm -rf' is definitely the
> way to go. Don't bother reporting this as a bug since you've
> *definitely* voided the warranty (that your free software didn't come
> with).

And the 'f' (force) makes it particularly bad? I guess I learnt something the hard way today.


> Debian/Ubuntu and other derivatives such as Mint do not use the
> python.org tarball as it comes out of the box. They apply a whole
> bunch of system specific patches so that Python fits in with their
> Debian way of doing things. This may be why you're seeing the error
> with your un-patched CPython.

Ok, I did not know that. I am surprised that Mint uses Python 3.2 internally. I thought only Python 2.7 was used.
 
> BTW why did you feel the need to delete it? If you say what you were
> trying to achieve I guarantee that someone will suggest a better way
> of achieving the same thing.

I just didn't want to have more versions than I actually need. Python 3.3 is closer to Python 2.7 than earlier Python 3 versions.
I am now planning to reinstall Python 3.2 using "sudo apt-get install python3"