Ugly traceback for DistutilsPlatformError

[gward]

BPO	233259
Nosy	@akuchling
Files	distutils.platform: Catch DistutilsPlatformError

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/akuchling'
closed_at = <Date 2002-11-08.16:19:21.000>
created_at = <Date 2001-02-20.16:23:09.000>
labels = ['library']
title = 'Ugly traceback for DistutilsPlatformError'
updated_at = <Date 2002-11-08.16:19:21.000>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/gward'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2002-11-08.16:19:21.000>
actor = 'akuchling'
assignee = 'akuchling'
closed = True
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2001-02-20.16:23:09.000>
creator = 'gward'
dependencies = []
files = ['11']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 233259
keywords = []
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['3513', '3514', '3515', '3516', '3517']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['akuchling', 'gward']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue233259'
versions = []

[gward]

From Chad Lester:

I was setting up a new redhat machine, and had forgotten to install the
python-devel rpm. The distutils provide a fairly ugly stack trace / error
message. Luckily, it meant something to me... but it's not terribly user
friendly!

...
File "/usr/lib/python1.5/site-packages/distutils/sysconfig.py", line
368, in get_config_vars
func()
File "/usr/lib/python1.5/site-packages/distutils/sysconfig.py", line
280, in _init_posix
raise DistutilsPlatformError, my_msg
distutils.errors.DistutilsPlatformError: invalid Python
installation: unable to open /usr/lib/python1.5/config/Makefile (No such
file or directory)

[gward]

This only applies for people installing Distutils
under Python 1.5.2, so it will only be fixed if
there is another Distutils release to support 1.5.2 --
which is unlikely.

[akuchling]

Logged In: YES
user_id=11375

Greg, I don't understand your last comment on this bug.
Surely the traceback will still be ugly for people running
Python 2.2 or whatever who don't have the python-devel RPM
installed? I don't see how this is only a 1.5.2 or a
"installing Distutils" question.

[akuchling]

Logged In: YES
user_id=11375

A simple fix is in the attached patch; it simply adds DistutilsPlatformError to the list of the exception classes caught
by core.setup().

However, maybe that exception handler should
catch DistutilsError, instead of listing a few particular subclasses of it. Some subclasses represent internal errors or a bad setup file, but
as users can always get the full traceback by setting the DISTUTILS_DEBUG environment variable, there seems little need to
ever show the full traceback by default.

[akuchling]

Logged In: YES
user_id=11375

I've checked in my proposed fix (the more liberal version that catches
all DistutilsError exceptions) as revision 1.54 of distutils/core.py.