Default IDLE 2.7.11 configuration files are out-of-sync on OS X framework installs

[ned-deily]

BPO	26417
Nosy	@terryjreedy, @ned-deily

^{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/ned-deily'
closed_at = <Date 2016-02-23.09:57:27.750>
created_at = <Date 2016-02-23.04:49:12.244>
labels = ['OS-mac', 'expert-IDLE', 'build']
title = 'Default IDLE 2.7.11 configuration files are out-of-sync on OS X framework installs'
updated_at = <Date 2016-02-23.09:57:27.730>
user = 'https://github.com/ned-deily'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2016-02-23.09:57:27.730>
actor = 'ned.deily'
assignee = 'ned.deily'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2016-02-23.09:57:27.750>
closer = 'ned.deily'
components = ['Build', 'IDLE', 'macOS']
creation = <Date 2016-02-23.04:49:12.244>
creator = 'ned.deily'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 26417
keywords = []
message_count = 3.0
messages = ['260709', '260715', '260718']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'ned.deily', 'python-dev']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue26417'
versions = ['Python 2.7']

[ned-deily]

On OS X framework installs, the Mac-specific sub-makefiles do some important tailoring of IDLE/s config-extensions.def and config-main.def files, among other things changing Tk some Tk events for more appropriate keyboard bindings (e.g. "<Alt-" to "<Opt-". On Python 2, this tailoring is performed by Mac/IDLE/Makefile.in replacing the standard Lib/idlelib/config-extensions.def and Lib/idlelib/config-main.def files with pre-edited versions from Mac/IDLE (Mac/IDLE/config-extensions.def and Mac/IDLE/config-main.def). Unfortunately, over the years, the Mac-specific files have not been kept in sync with the standard ones. For Python 2.7.11, this results in the problem described in bpo-25313 still being present for OS X framework installs, such as provided by the python.org OS X installers and other third-party distributors. (The symptoms are warning messages during IDLE startup of the form:

Warning: configHandler.py - IdleConf.GetOption -
problem retrieving configuration option 'name2'
from section 'Theme'.
returning default value: ''
)

For Python 3, the Mac Makefile installation of IDLE was substantially revised including eliminating the Mac-specific copies of the two .def files. Instead, the Python 3 Makefile edits the default idlelib .def files during installation so that this kind of sync problem doesn't occur. Ideally, the 2.7 Mac/IDLE/Makefile.in should be changed to do what Python 3 does and the redundant .def files removed. At a minimum the 2.7 Mac files should be synced. Patch to follow.

[python-dev]

New changeset 13826ff147e4 by Ned Deily in branch '2.7':
Issue bpo-26417: Prevent spurious errors and incorrect defaults when
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/13826ff147e4

[ned-deily]

For 2.7.12 I've committed changes to the Mac/IDLE Makefile so that it now edits the defaults files in place on install just like the 3.x Makefiles do. Framework installs of IDLE 2.7 on OS X no longer output startup warnings and, since the defaults are now in sync, also now properly use the newer default font. The whole approach is less than ideal since the OS X tailoring is still hidden away in the Mac Makefiles rather than in idlelib code. bpo-20580 addresses the broader issue of platform-specific configuration files for IDLE.