_sysconfigdata.py is installed in an arch-independent directory

[automatthias]

BPO	18083
Nosy	@doko42, @ncoghlan, @davidmalcolm
Dependencies	bpo-23968: rename the platform directory from plat-$(MACHDEP) to plat-$(PLATFORM_TRIPLET)
Superseder	bpo-23968: rename the platform directory from plat-$(MACHDEP) to plat-$(PLATFORM_TRIPLET)

^{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 = None
closed_at = <Date 2021-10-20.10:27:14.597>
created_at = <Date 2013-05-28.16:34:53.774>
labels = ['expert-installation']
title = '_sysconfigdata.py is installed in an arch-independent directory'
updated_at = <Date 2021-10-20.10:27:14.597>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/automatthias'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-10-20.10:27:14.597>
actor = 'iritkatriel'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2021-10-20.10:27:14.597>
closer = 'iritkatriel'
components = ['Installation']
creation = <Date 2013-05-28.16:34:53.774>
creator = 'automatthias'
dependencies = ['23968']
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 18083
keywords = []
message_count = 3.0
messages = ['190225', '190256', '267351']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['doko', 'ncoghlan', 'Arfrever', 'dmalcolm', 'automatthias']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'duplicate'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = '23968'
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue18083'
versions = ['Python 3.3']

[automatthias]

_sysconfigdata.py is installed into ${prefix}/lib/pythonX.Y/_sysconfigdata.py which is an architecture-independent directory, as opposed to a path starting with e.g. ${libdir}, which is architecture-dependent. But _sysconfigdata.py contains architecture-dependent information, which breaks some installation, specifically Solaris multi-arch.

A fix would be to move it to an architecture-dependent directory, but this probably requires some discussion.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Original question on the mailing list:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2013-May/647197.html

I'm looking into creating a 32/64-bit Python (2.x and/or 3.x) package
for Solaris. The specificity of that package is that I need to include
both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries in it. The exact way in which the
32/64 support is done is described at [1].

There currently is a Python package that I maintain, which is 32-bit only[2].

I have made an attempt to build a 64-bit package, and my findings are
that the ${prefix}/lib/pythonX.Y/_sysconfigdata.py file contains
system-specific information. Note that it's not ${libdir}/pythonX.Y -
that would have worked, because I'm specifying different ${libdir}
directories when running the 32-bit and 64-bit builds. The Python
installer specifically uses ${prefix}/lib/pythonX.Y. For the most part
is fine, because most of files in there are not architecture-specific,
and it would be quite good to share them among the 32-bit and 64-bit
binaries at runtime. The problem is that some files differ. I've
described it some more at [3].

Ideally, I'd make _sysconfigdata.py return/set different values
depending on the Python runtime that reads it. Something like:

if we're 64-bit:
  set values for the 64-bit platform
else:
  set values for the 32-bit platform

It's a similar approach to how we currently handle C header files. See
the 'Development packages' section in [1] for more information.

The problem is that it would involve somewhat intrusive patching of
the Python source code, and in long term that means maintainability
issues.

[doko42]

Did Solaris adopt MultiArch? ;-P Nice!

So what I did for the Debian and Ubuntu builds is:

• to rename plat-linux to plat-<multiarch-tuple>
  (or plat-<gnu triplet>)

• and install it there.

Note that IN.py is another architecture dependent file which differs at least on several linux architectures.

[ncoghlan]

bpo-23968 moves _sysconfigdata.py to an arch dependent directory