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README.os2emx

1This is a port of Python 2.6 to OS/2 using the EMX development tools
2=========================================================================
3
4What's new since the previous release
5-------------------------------------
6
7Another day, another version...
8
9
10Licenses and info about Python and EMX
11--------------------------------------
12
13Please read the file README.Python-2.6 included in this package for
14information about Python 2.6.  This file is the README file from the
15Python 2.6 source distribution available via http://www.python.org/
16and its mirrors.  The file LICENCE.Python-2.6 is the text of the Licence
17from the Python 2.6 source distribution.
18
19Note that the EMX package that this package depends on is released under
20the GNU General Public Licence.  Please refer to the documentation
21accompanying the EMX Runtime libraries for more information about the
22implications of this.  A copy of version 2 of the GPL is included as the
23file COPYING.gpl2.
24
25Readline and GDBM are covered by the GNU General Public Licence.  I think
26Eberhard Mattes' porting changes to BSD DB v1.85 are also GPL'ed (BSD DB
27itself is BSD Licenced).  ncurses and expat appear to be covered by MIT
28style licences - please refer to the source distributions for more detail.
29zlib is distributable under a very free license.  GNU UFC is under the
30GNU LGPL (see file COPYING.lib).
31
32My patches to the Python-2.x source distributions, and any other packages
33used in this port, are placed in the public domain.
34
35This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty.
36In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the
37use of the software.
38
39I do hope however that it proves useful to someone.
40
41
42Other ports
43-----------
44
45There have been ports of previous versions of Python to OS/2.
46
47The best known would be that by Jeff Rush, most recently of version
481.5.2.  Jeff used IBM's Visual Age C++ (v3) for his ports, and his
49patches have been included in the Python 2.6 source distribution.
50
51Andy Zabolotny implemented a port of Python v1.5.2 using the EMX
52development tools.  His patches against the Python v1.5.2 source
53distribution have become the core of this port, and without his efforts
54this port wouldn't exist.  Andy's port also appears to have been
55compiled with his port of gcc 2.95.2 to EMX, which I have but have
56chosen not to use for the binary distribution of this port (see item 16
57of the "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" section below).
58
59It is possible to have these earlier ports still usable after installing
60this port - see the README.os2emx.multiple_versions file, contributed by
61Dr David Mertz, for a suggested approach to achieving this.
62
63
64Software requirements
65---------------------
66
67This package requires the EMX Runtime package, available from the
68Hobbes (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/) and LEO (http://archiv.leo.org/)
69archives of OS/2 software.  I have used EMX version 0.9d fix04 in
70developing this port.
71
72My development system is running OS/2 v4 with fixpack 12.
73
743rd party software which has been linked into dynamically loaded modules:
75- ncurses      (see http://dickey.his.com/ for more info, v5.2)
76- GNU Readline (Kai Uwe Rommel's port available from Hobbes or LEO, v2.1)
77- GNU GDBM     (Kai Uwe Rommel's port available from Hobbes or LEO, v1.7.3)
78- zlib         (derived from Hung-Chi Chu's port of v1.1.3, v1.1.4)
79- expat        (distributed with Python, v1.95.6)
80- GNU UFC      (Kai Uwe Rommel's port available from LEO, v2.0.4)
81
82
83About this port
84---------------
85
86I have attempted to make this port as complete and functional as I can,
87notwithstanding the issues in the "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" section below.
88
89Core components:
90
91Python.exe is linked as an a.out executable, ie using EMX method E1
92to compile & link the executable.  This is so that fork() works (see
93"YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" item 1).
94
95Python26.dll is created as a normal OMF DLL, with an OMF import
96library and module definition file.  There is also an a.out (.a) import
97library to support linking the DLL to a.out executables.  The DLL
98requires the EMX runtime DLLs.
99
100This port has been built with complete support for multithreading.
101
102Modules:
103
104With the exception of modules that have a significant code size, or are
105not recommended or desired for normal use, the standard modules are now
106built into the core DLL rather than configured as dynamically loadable
107modules.  This is for both reasons of performance (startup time) and
108memory use (lots of small DLLs fragment the address space).
109
110I haven't yet changed the building of Python's dynamically loadable
111modules over to using the DistUtils.
112
113See "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" item 3 for notes about the fcntl module, and
114"YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" item 10 for notes about the pwd and grp modules.
115
116This port supports case sensitive module import semantics, matching
117the Windows release.  This can be deactivated by setting the PYTHONCASEOK
118environment variable (the value doesn't matter) - see "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED"
119item 12.
120
121Optional modules:
122
123Where I've been able to locate the required 3rd party packages already
124ported to OS/2, I've built and included them.
125
126These include ncurses (_curses, _curses_panel), BSD DB (bsddb185),
127GNU GDBM (gdbm, dbm), zlib (zlib), GNU Readline (readline), and GNU UFC
128(crypt).
129
130Expat is now included in the Python release sourceball, and the pyexpat
131module is always built.
132
133I have built these modules statically linked against the 3rd party
134libraries.  Unfortunately my attempts to use the dll version of GNU
135readline have been a dismal failure, in that when the dynamically
136linked readline module is active other modules immediately provoke a
137core dump when imported.
138
139Only the BSD DB package (part of the BSD package distributed with EMX)
140needs source modifications to be used for this port, pertaining to use
141of errno with multithreading.
142
143The other packages, except for ncurses and zlib, needed Makefile changes
144for multithreading support but no source changes.
145
146The _curses_panel module is a potential problem - see "YOU HAVE BEEN
147WARNED" item 13.
148
149Upstream source patches:
150
151No updates to the Python 2.6 release have become available.
152
153Eberhard Mattes' EMXFIX04 update to his EMX 0.9d tools suite includes
154bug fixes for the BSD DB library.  The bsddb module included in this
155port incorporates these fixes.
156
157Library and other distributed Python code:
158
159The Python standard library lives in the Lib directory.  All the standard
160library code included with the Python 2.6 source distribution is included
161in the binary archive, with the exception of the dos-8x3 and tkinter
162subdirectories which have been omitted to reduce the size of the binary
163archive - the dos-8x3 components are unnecessary duplicates and Tkinter
164is not supported by this port (yet).  All the plat-* subdirectories in the
165source distribution have also been omitted, except for the plat-os2emx
166subdirectory.
167
168The Tools and Demo directories contain a collection of Python scripts.
169To reduce the size of the binary archive, the Demo/sgi, Demo/Tix,
170Demo/tkinter, Tools/audiopy and Tools/IDLE subdirectories have been
171omitted as not being supported by this port.  The Misc directory has
172also been omitted.
173
174All subdirectories omitted from the binary archive can be reconstituted
175from the Python 2.6 source distribution, if desired.
176
177Support for building Python extensions:
178
179The Config subdirectory contains the files describing the configuration
180of the interpreter and the Makefile, import libraries for the Python DLL,
181and the module definition file used to create the Python DLL.  The
182Include subdirectory contains all the standard Python header files
183needed for building extensions.
184
185As I don't have the Visual Age C++ compiler, I've made no attempt to
186have this port support extensions built with that compiler.
187
188
189Packaging
190---------
191
192This port is packaged as follows:
193- python-2.6-os2emx-bin-03????.zip  (binaries, library modules)
194- python-2.6-os2emx-src-03????      (patches+makefiles for non-Python code)
195
196As all the Python specific patches for the port are now part of the
197Python release tarball, only the patches and makefiles involved in
198building external libraries for optional extensions are included in
199the source archive.
200
201Documentation for the Python language, as well as the Python 2.6
202source distibution, can be obtained from the Python website
203(http://www.python.org/) or the Python project pages at Sourceforge
204(http://sf.net/projects/python/).
205
206
207Installation
208------------
209
210Obtain and install, as per the included instructions, the EMX runtime
211package.
212
213Unpack this archive, preserving the subdirectories, in the root directory
214of the drive where you want Python to live.
215
216Add the Python directory (eg C:\Python26) to the PATH and LIBPATH
217variables in CONFIG.SYS.
218
219You should then set the PYTHONHOME and PYTHONPATH environment variables
220in CONFIG.SYS.
221
222PYTHONHOME should be set to Python's top level directory.  PYTHONPATH
223should be set to the semicolon separated list of principal Python library
224directories.
225I use:
226  SET PYTHONHOME=F:/Python26
227  SET PYTHONPATH=F:/Python26/Lib;F:/Python26/Lib/plat-os2emx;
228                 F:/Python26/Lib/lib-dynload;F:/Python26/Lib/site-packages
229
230NOTE!:  the PYTHONPATH setting above is linewrapped for this document - it
231should all be on one line in CONFIG.SYS!
232
233If you wish to use the curses module, you should set the TERM and TERMINFO
234environment variables appropriately.
235
236If you don't already have ncurses installed, I have included a copy of the
237EMX subset of the Terminfo database included with the ncurses-5.2 source
238distribution.  This can be used by setting the TERMINFO environment variable
239to the path of the Terminfo subdirectory below the Python home directory.
240On my system this looks like:
241  SET TERMINFO=F:/Python26/Terminfo
242
243For the TERM environment variable, I would try one of the following:
244  SET TERM=ansi
245  SET TERM=os2
246  SET TERM=window
247
248You will have to reboot your system for these changes to CONFIG.SYS to take
249effect.
250
251If you wish to compile all the included Python library modules to bytecode,
252you can change into the Python home directory and run the COMPILEALL.CMD
253batch file.
254
255You can execute the regression tests included with the Python 2.6 source
256distribution by changing to the Python 2.6 home directory and executing the
257REGRTEST.CMD batch file.  The following tests are known to fail at this
258time:
259- test_mhlib (I don't know of any port of MH to OS/2);
260- test_strptime (see "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" item 22);
261- test_time (see "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" item 22);
262- test_posixpath (see "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" item 23).
263
264Note that some of the network related tests expect the loopback interface
265(interface "lo", with IP address 127.0.0.1) to be enabled, which from my
266experience is not the default configuration.  Additionally, test_popen2
267expects the "cat" utility (such as found in ports of the GNU tools) to
268be installed.
269
270
271Building from source
272--------------------
273
274With the EMX port now checked into Python's CVS repository, the build
275infrastructure is part of the Python release sourceball.
276
277Prerequisites
278
279First and foremost, you need an operational EMX development installation -
280EMX v0.9d with fix04 (the latest at time of writing) & the gcc 2.8.1
281compiler released by Eberhard Mattes is the recommended setup.
282
283If you have a different version of gcc installed, see "YOU HAVE BEEN
284WARNED" item 16.
285
286Other items of software required:-
287
288- GNU make (I'm using v3.76.1)
289- rm, cp, mkdir from the GNU file utilities package
290- GNU find
291- GNU sed
292
293Procedure
294
2950. all changes mentioned apply to files in the PC/os2emx subdirectory
296   of the Python release source tree.  make is also executed from this
297   directory, so change into this directory before proceeding.
298
2991. decide if you need to change the location of the Python installation.
300   If you wish to do this, set the value of the Makefile variable LIB_DIR
301   to the directory you wish to use for PYTHONHOME
302   (eg /usr/local/lib/python2.6).
303
304   If you want Python to find its library without the PYTHONHOME
305   environment variable set, set the value of the Makefile variable
306   FIXED_PYHOME to "yes" (uncomment the appropriate line).
307
3082. If you wish the Python executables (python.exe, pythonpm.exe & pgen.exe)
309   to be installed in a directory other than the PYTHONHOME directory, set
310   the value of the Makefile variable EXE_DIR to the appropriate directory.
311
3123. If you wish the Python core DLL (python27.dll) to be installed in a
313   directory other than the directory in which the Python executables are
314   installed (by default, the PYTHONHOME directory), set the value of the
315   Makefile variable DLL_DIR to the appropriate directory.  This DLL must
316   be placed in a directory on the system's LIBPATH, or that gets set
317   with BEGINLIBPATH or ENDLIBPATH.
318
3194. If you have installed any of the libraries that can be used to build
320   optional Python modules, set the value of the relevant HAVE_<package>
321   Makefile variable to "yes".  The Makefile currently supports:
322
323   library               Makefile variable
324   ........................................
325   zlib (1.1.4)          HAVE_ZLIB
326   GNU UltraFast Crypt   HAVE_UFC
327   Tcl/Tk                HAVE_TCLTK (not known to work)
328   GNU Readline          HAVE_GREADLINE
329   BSD DB (v1.85)        HAVE_BSDDB
330   ncurses               HAVE_NCURSES
331   GNU gdbm              HAVE_GDBM
332   libbz2                HAVE_BZ2
333   OpenSSL               HAVE_OPENSSL
334
335   Please note that you need to check that what you have installed
336   is compatible with Python's build options.  In particular, the
337   BSD DB v1.85 library needs to be rebuilt with a source patch for
338   multithread support (doesn't change the library's reentrant status
339   but allows it to be linked to Python which is multithreaded).
340   Widely available binary packages of other librarys & DLLs are
341   not built/linked with multithread support.  Beware!
342
343   Also note that the Makefile currently expects any libraries to be
344   found with the default library search path.  You may need to add
345   -L switches to the LDFLAGS Makefile variable if you have installed
346   libraries in directories not in the default search path (which can
347   be controlled by the LIBRARY_PATH environment variable used by EMX).
348
3495. make
350
351   It is usually a good idea to redirect the stdout and stderr streams
352   of the make process to log files, so that you can review any messages.
353
3546. make test
355
356   This runs the Python regression tests, and completion is a sign of
357   a usable build.  You should check the list of skipped modules to
358   ensure that any optional modules you selected have been built;
359   checking the list of failures against the list of known failures
360   elsewhere in this document is also prudent.
361
3627. make install
363   >>>>>> NOT YET COMPLETE <<<<<<
364
3658. change to a directory outside the Python source tree and start Python.
366   Check the version and build date to confirm satisfactory installation.
367
368
369YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
370----------------------
371
372I know about a number of nasties in this port.
373
3741.  Eberhard Mattes, author of EMX, writes in his documentation that fork()
375is very inefficient in the OS/2 environment.  It also requires that the
376executable be linked in a.out format rather than OMF.  Use the os.exec
377and/or the os.spawn family of functions where possible.
378
3792.  In the absence of GNU Readline, terminating the interpreter requires a
380control-Z (^Z) followed by a carriage return.  Jeff Rush documented this
381problem in his Python 1.5.2 port.  With Readline, a control-D (^D) works
382as per the standard Unix environment.
383
3843.  EMX only has a partial implementation of fcntl().  The fcntl module
385in this port supports what EMX supports.  If fcntl is important to you,
386please review the EMX C Library Reference (included in .INF format in the
387EMXVIEW.ZIP archive as part of the complete EMX development tools suite).
388Because of other side-effects I have modified the test_fcntl.py test
389script to deactivate the exercising of the missing functionality.
390
3914.  the PyBSDDB3 module has been imported into the Python standard
392library, with the intent of superceding the BSDDB 1.85 module (bsddb).
393As I don't yet have a satisfactory port of Sleepcat's more recent DB
394library (3.3.x/4.0.x/4.1.x), I haven't included a binary of this
395module.  I have left the Python part of the PyBSDDB package in this
396distribution for completeness.
397
3985.  As a consequence of the PyBSDDB3 module being imported, the former
399BSD DB (bsddb) module, linked against the DB v1.85 library from EMX,
400has been renamed bsddb185.  The bsddb185 module will not be built by
401default on most platforms, but in the absence of a PyBSDDB3 module I
402have retained it in the EMX port.
403
404Version 1.85 of the DB library is widely known to have bugs, although
405some patches have become available (and are incorporated into the
406included bsddb185 module).  Unless you have problems with software
407licenses which would rule out GDBM (and the dbm module because it is
408linked against the GDBM library) or need it for file format compatibility,
409you may be better off deleting it and relying on GDBM.
410
411Any code you have which uses the v1.85 bsddb module can be modified to
412use the renamed module by changing
413
414  import bsddb
415
416to
417
418  import bsddb185 as bsddb
419
4206.  The readline module has been linked against ncurses rather than the
421termcap library supplied with EMX.
422
4237.  I have configured this port to use "/" as the preferred path separator
424character, rather than "\" ('\\'), in line with the convention supported
425by EMX.  Backslashes are still supported of course, and still appear in
426unexpected places due to outside sources that don't get normalised.
427
4288.  While the DistUtils components are now functional, other
429packaging/binary handling tools and utilities such as those included in
430the Demo and Tools directories - freeze in particular - are unlikely to
431work.  If you do get them going, I'd like to know about your success.
432
4339.  I haven't set out to support the [BEGIN|END]LIBPATH functionality
434supported by one of the earlier ports (Rush's??).  If it works let me know.
435
43610. As a result of the limitations imposed by EMX's library routines, the
437standard extension module pwd only synthesises a simple passwd database,
438and the grp module cannot be supported at all.
439
440I have written pure Python substitutes for pwd and grp, which can process
441real passwd and group files for those applications (such as MailMan) that
442require more than EMX emulates.  I have placed pwd.py and grp.py in
443Lib/plat-os2emx, which is usually before Lib/lib-dynload (which contains
444pwd.pyd) in the PYTHONPATH.  If you have become attached to what pwd.pyd
445supports, you can put Lib/lib-dynload before Lib/plat-os2emx in PYTHONPATH
446or delete/rename pwd.py & grp.py.
447
448pwd.py & grp.py support locating their data files by looking in the
449environment for them in the following sequence:
450pwd.py:  $ETC_PASSWD             (%ETC_PASSWD%)
451         $ETC/passwd             (%ETC%/passwd)
452         $PYTHONHOME/Etc/passwd  (%PYTHONHOME%/Etc/passwd)
453grp.py:  $ETC_GROUP              (%ETC_GROUP%)
454         $ETC/group              (%ETC%/group)
455         $PYTHONHOME/Etc/group   (%PYTHONHOME%/Etc/group)
456
457The ETC_PASSWD and ETC_GROUP environment variables are intended to allow
458support for multiple passwd/grp files, where other applications may not
459support as wide a variety of input variations (drive remappings,
460separators etc).
461
462Both modules support using either the ":" character (Unix standard) or
463";" (OS/2, DOS, Windows standard) field separator character, and pwd.py
464implements the following drive letter conversions for the home_directory and
465shell fields (for the ":" separator only):
466         $x  ->  x:
467         x;  ->  x:
468
469Example versions of passwd and group are in the Etc subdirectory.  The
470regression tests (test_pwd and test_grp) will fail if valid password and
471group files cannot be found, but should pass otherwise.
472
473Be aware that Python's pwd & group modules are for reading password and
474group information only.
475
47611. EMX's termios routines don't support all of the functionality now
477exposed by the termios module - refer to the EMX documentation to find
478out what is supported.
479
48012. The case sensitive import semantics introduced in Python 2.1 for other
481case insensitive but case preserving file/operating systems (Windows etc),
482have been incorporated into this port, and are active by default.  Setting
483the PYTHONCASEOK environment variable (to any value) reverts to the
484previous (case insensitive) semantics.  This can be an issue with some
485file management utilities that do not preserve the case of file and
486directory names.
487
48813. Because I am statically linking ncurses, the _curses_panel
489module has potential problems arising from separate library data areas.
490To avoid this, I have configured the _curses_.pyd (imported as
491"_curses_panel") to import the ncurses symbols it needs from _curses.dll
492(which is the curses module, but with a .dll extension rather than .pyd
493so that the dynamic loader can actually import the symbols from it as a
494DLL).
495
496The site module (Lib/site.py) has code added to tweak BEGINLIBPATH so
497that _curses.dll is found when _curses_panel is imported.  If you have
498problems attempting to use the _curses_panel support please let me know,
499and I'll have another look at this.
500
50114. sys.platform reports "os2emx" instead of "os2".  os.name still
502reports "os2".  This change was to make it easier to distinguish between
503the VAC++ build (formerly maintained by Michael Muller) and the EMX build
504(this port), principally for DistUtils.
505
50615. it appears that the %W substitution in the EMX strftime() routine has
507an off-by-one bug.  strftime was listed as passing the regression tests
508in previous releases, but this fact appears to have been an oversight in
509the regression test suite.  To fix this really requires a portable
510strftime routine - I'm looking into using one from FreeBSD, but its not
511ready yet.
512
51316. I have successfully built this port with Andy Zabolotny's ports of
514pgcc 2.95 and gcc 3.2.1, in addition to EM's gcc 2.8.1.  To use the
515bsddb185 module with the gcc 3.2.1 build, I had to recompile the DB library
516with gcc 3.2.1 - I don't know why, but trying to import the module built
517against a DB library compiled with gcc 2.8.1 would result in a SYS3175
518error.
519
520I have not attempted to compile Python with any version of gcc prior to
521v2.8.1.
522
523This release sees the default optimisation change to
524"-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -mprobe".  This works fine too for pgcc 2.95
525but not for gcc 3.2.1.
526
527With gcc 3.2.1, -O3 causes 2 unexpected test failures: test_format and
528test_unicode.  Both these tests pass if -O2 is instead of -O3 with this
529compiler, and the performance difference is negligible (in contrast to
530gcc 2.8.1 and pgcc 2.95, where the performance difference between the
5312 optimisation settings approaches 10%).
532
53317.  os.spawnv() and os.spawnve() expose EMX's library routines rather
534than use the emulation in os.py.
535
536In order to make use of some of the features this makes available in
537the OS/2 environment, you should peruse the relevant EMX documentation
538(EMXLIB.INF in the EMXVIEW.ZIP archive accompanying the EMX archives
539on Hobbes or LEO).  Be aware that I have exposed all the "mode" options
540supported by EMX, but there are combinations that either cannot be
541practically used by/in Python or have the potential to compromise your
542system's stability.
543
54418.  pythonpm.exe used to be just python.exe with the WINDOWAPI linker
545option set in the pythonpm.def file.  In practice, this turns out to do
546nothing useful.
547
548I have written a replacement which wraps the Python DLL in a genuine
549Presentation Manager application.  This version actually runs the
550Python interpreter in a separate thread from the PM shell, in order
551that PythonPM has a functioning message queue as good PM apps should.
552In its current state, PythonPM's window is hidden.  It can be displayed,
553although it will have no content as nothing is ever written to the
554window.  Only the "hide" button is available.  Although the code
555has support for shutting PythonPM down when the Python interpreter is
556still busy (via the "control" menu), this is not well tested and given
557comments I've come across in EMX documentation suggesting that the
558thread killing operation has problems I would suggest caution in
559relying on this capability.
560
561PythonPM processes commandline parameters normally.  The standard input,
562output and error streams are only useful if redirected, as PythonPM's
563window is not a console in any form and so cannot accept or display
564anything.  This means that the -i option is ineffective.
565
566Because the Python thread doesn't create its own message queue, creating
567PM Windows and performing most PM operations is not possible from within
568this thread.  How this will affect supporting PM extensions (such as
569Tkinter using a PM port of Tcl/Tk, or wxPython using the PM port of
570WxWindows) is still being researched.
571
572Note that os.fork() _DOES_NOT_WORK_ in PythonPM - SYS3175s are the result
573of trying.  os.spawnv() _does_ work.  PythonPM passes all regression tests
574that the standard Python interpreter (python.exe) passes, with the exception
575of test_fork1 and test_socket which both attempt to use os.fork().
576
577I very much want feedback on the performance, behaviour and utility of
578PythonPM.  I would like to add a PM console capability to it, but that
579will be a non-trivial effort.  I may be able to leverage the code in
580Illya Vaes' Tcl/Tk port, which would make it easier.
581
58219.  os.chdir() uses EMX's _chdir2(), which supports changing both drive
583and directory at once.  Similarly, os.getcwd() uses EMX's _getcwd()
584which returns drive as well as path.
585
58620.  pyconfig.h is installed in the Include subdirectory with all
587other include files.
588
58921.  the default build explicitly sets the number of file handles
590available to a Python process to 250.  EMX default is 40, which is
591insufficient for the tempfile regression test (test_tempfile) which
592tries to create 100 temporary files.
593
594This setting can be overridden via the EMXOPT environment variable:
595  set EMXOPT=-h250
596is equivalent to the setting currently used.  The emxbind utility (if you
597have it installed) can also be used to permanently change the setting in
598python.exe - please refer to the EMX documentation for more information.
599
60022.  a pure python strptime module is now part of the Python standard
601library, superceding a platform specific extension module. This module
602leverages the strftime module, and as a result test_strptime fails
603due to the EMX strftime bug in item 20 above.
604
60523.  test_posixpath attempts to exercise various Posix path related
606functionality.  Most of the sub-tests pass, but the "ismount" and
607"samestat" subtests fail:
608- EMX provides not satisfactory mount point emulation, so "ismount"
609  cannot succeed;
610- EMX documents that successive stat() calls will produce different
611  results, so "samestat" cannot succeed.
612
613test_posixpath should skip these tests on EMX.
614
61524.  I have reports of BitTorrent not working.  It appears that the
616EMX select() emulation, possibly in concert with bugs in the TCP/IP
617stack, runs into problems under the stress imposed by this application.
618I think it suffices to say that BitTorrent is a fair stress test of a
619system's networking capability.
620
62125.  In the absence of an EMX implementation of the link() function, I've
622implemented a crude Python emulation, in the file
623Lib/plat-os2emx/_emx_link.py.  This is imported into the os module, and
624becomes available as os.link() in the normal way.
625
626The emulation copies the source file in binary mode, and will fail if
627disk space is exhausted. The call fails if the target already exists.
628There are no guarantees to thread safety with this emulation - beware!
629
630The emulation was written to support a link() based file locking system
631used in GNU Mailman.
632
63326.  AF_UNIX sockets, otherwise known as Unix domain sockets, are now
634supported.  Unfortunately, there are some traps arising from the
635implementation in IBM's TCP/IP stack:-
636- the path name must start with '\\socket\\' ('/socket/' won't work!),
637  with the length of the full path name less than 108 characters;
638- unlike Unix, the socket endpoints don't exist in the filesystem;
639- by default, sockets are in binary mode.
640
64127.  As of Python 2.4, the mpz, rotor and xreadlines modules have been
642dropped from the Python source tree.
643
64428.  The subprocess module was added to the standard library relatively
645late in the 2.4 development cycle.  Unfortunately I haven't had the
646round tuits to adapt the module to the EMX environment yet, and
647test_subprocess has a number of failures as a result.
648
64929.  The default stack size for threads has been 64k.  This is proving
650insufficient for some codebases, such as Zope.  The thread stack size
651still defaults to 64k, but this can now be increased via the stack_size()
652function exposed by the threading & thread modules as well as by defining
653THREAD_STACK_SIZE to an appropriate value in the Makefile (which contains
654a commented out definition for 128kB thread stacks).  I have seen
655references to heavy Zope/Plone usage requiring 1MB thread stacks on
656FreeBSD and Linux, but doubt that for most likely usage on OS/2 that
657more than 256kB is necessary.  The size of the required stacks (main
658and thread) can vary significantly depending on which version of gcc
659is used along with the compiler optimisations selected.  Note that the
660main thread stack size is set during linking and is currently 2MB.
661
662... probably other issues that I've not encountered, or don't remember :-(
663
664If you encounter other difficulties with this port, which can be
665characterised as peculiar to this port rather than to the Python release,
666I would like to hear about them.  However I cannot promise to be able to do
667anything to resolve such problems.  See the Contact section below...
668
669
670To do...
671--------
672
673In no particular order of apparent importance or likelihood...
674
675- support Tkinter and/or alternative GUI (wxWindows??)
676
677
678Credits
679-------
680
681In addition to people identified above, I'd like to thank:
682- the BDFL, Guido van Rossum, and crew for Python;
683- Dr David Mertz, for trying out a pre-release of this port;
684- the Python-list/comp.lang.python community;
685- John Poltorak, for input about pwd/grp.
686
687Contact
688-------
689
690Constructive feedback, negative or positive, about this port is welcome
691and should be addressed to me at the e-mail addresses below.
692
693I have a private mailing list for announcements of fixes & updates to
694this port.  If you wish to receive such e-mail announcments, please send
695me an e-mail requesting that you be added to this list.
696
697Andrew MacIntyre
698E-mail: andymac@bullseye.apana.org.au, or andymac@pcug.org.au
699Web:    http://www.andymac.org/
700
70128 January, 2008.
702