Darwin framework libpython3.0.a is not a normal static library

[jhowarth]

BPO	5514
Nosy	@ronaldoussoren

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

Show more details

GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/ronaldoussoren'
closed_at = <Date 2009-09-06.12:11:47.961>
created_at = <Date 2009-03-18.23:06:53.836>
labels = ['OS-mac', 'type-bug', 'invalid']
title = 'Darwin framework libpython3.0.a is not a normal static library'
updated_at = <Date 2009-09-06.12:11:47.960>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/jhowarth'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2009-09-06.12:11:47.960>
actor = 'ronaldoussoren'
assignee = 'ronaldoussoren'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2009-09-06.12:11:47.961>
closer = 'ronaldoussoren'
components = ['macOS']
creation = <Date 2009-03-18.23:06:53.836>
creator = 'jhowarth'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 5514
keywords = []
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['83792', '84556', '87982', '92304']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['ronaldoussoren', 'jhowarth']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue5514'
versions = ['Python 3.0']

[jhowarth]

The libpython3.0.a created for Python 3.0.1 isn't a normal static
library.

file
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.0/lib/python3.0/c
onfig/libpython3.0.a
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.0/lib/python3.0/c
onfig/libpython3.0.a: Mach-O universal binary with 3 architectures
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.0/lib/python3.0/c
onfig/libpython3.0.a (for architecture x86_64): Mach-O 64-bit
dynamically linked shared library x86_64
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.0/lib/python3.0/c
onfig/libpython3.0.a (for architecture i386): Mach-O dynamically
linked shared library i386
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.0/lib/python3.0/c
onfig/libpython3.0.a (for architecture ppc7400): Mach-O
dynamically linked shared library ppc

Due to a bug in Darwin's ar, extraction the object files in this
abnormal static libraries has been possible with 'ar x'. This bug in ar
will be fixed in the next Xcode and the abnormal static library that
python creates will no longer be able to serve as a substitute for a
true static library. The libpython#.#.#.a files in config should be made
into normal static libraries for all the currently supported versions of
python when built as frameworks.

[ronaldoussoren]

Jack: do I understand you correctly when I interpret your message to mean
that libpython3.0.a inside the Python framework won't be usable as a
library that's linked using '-lpython3.0' in a future edition of Xcode?

That would be a bummer. The current name was chosen because some 3th party
code explicitly looks for a '.a' file (IIRC mod_python is one of those).

BTW. libpython3.0 is a symlink to the dylib in the Python.framework,
specifically to allow applications that try to link to libpython to work.

[ronaldoussoren]

Jack: could you please explain what the issue is? Unless you do so I
will close this issue as "won't fix".

In particular: will linking with "-lpython3.0" work with this
hypothetical future version of Xcode you're talking about?

As mentioned before "libpythonX.Y.a" is present for compatibility with a
number of popular 3th-party tools that have manually written makefiles
that expect this library to be present. Making the file a symlink to the
actual dylib in the framework seems to work as intented as the moment:
the executable gets linked to the framework (just as if it was linked
with "-framework Python")

[ronaldoussoren]

I'm closing this issue because the user does not respond to my questions
and because I don't agree there is a problem.