pythonbuild

This module installs Python from source by downloading it from Python.org and performing an altinstall.

Table of Contents

1. Description
2. Setup – The basics of getting started with pythonbuild
   • Setup requirements
   • Beginning with pythonbuild
3. Usage – Configuration options and additional functionality
4. Limitations – OS compatibility, etc.
5. Development – Guide for contributing to the module

Description

This module downloads Python sources from the configured URL, by default from the FTP directory on Python.org, into a configured directory, be default /usr/local/src'. Afterwards, it configures the build and performs a altinstall` make.

This process will install a binary that can be invoked, for instance, as python3.9.

Setup

Setup Requirements

The module required autoconf, gcc, make and several libraries to be installed. These packages are automatically installed when specified in as $build_dependencies.

Beginning with pythonbuild

The pythonbuild class enables installation of multiple versions. The following installs Python 3.9.6 without any build customisation:

class { 'pythonbuild':
    versions => {
        '3.9.6' => { }
    }
}

Usage

The hash per version can be used to configure phythonbuild::build, most notably you can override the full source path for the download. Furthermore, you can change the target for make, e.g. if you want to perform a system-wide install instead of adding an alternative version. The following specifies what would be the default for Python 3.9.6:

class { 'pythonbuild':
    versions => {
        '3.9.6' => {
            override_url => 'https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.6/Python-3.9.6.tgz',
            configure_flags => '--enable-optimizations',
            make_target => 'altinstall'
        }
    }
}

Should you have the need to add additional build depdencies, this is best done via Hiera. The following is the default configuration which is applied to all platforms:

pythonbuild::build_dependencies:
  - gcc
  - make
  - autoconf

If you need to force a rebuild, this can be achieved by deleting the source directory. This is located in /usr/local/src or at the location specified as $source_dir parameter.

Limitations

Only distributions listed in metadata.json are supported.

Development

Open a pull request on GitHub.