Re: Python 3.0 does not work with PL/Python

On 4/4/09, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
> > I have recently fixed the configure script to recognize Python 3.0. But
> > note that building and running PL/Python with Python 3.0 does not
> > actually work. It looks like several symbols have been removed or
> > changed. It would be good if the Python pundits around here could take
> > a look.
>
> > (I have found Python 3.0 to be very quick and easy to install from
> > source, in case your distribution doesn't have it packaged yet.)
>
>
> I thought I would experiment with this a bit. I got past Python's
> "configure; make; make install" okay, but got no further than here
> with building PG:
>
> checking for python... /home/tgl/python3.0.1/bin/python
> checking for Python distutils module... ./configure: line 6946: 21044 Aborted "${PYTHON}" -c 'import distutils' 2>&-
> no
> configure: error: distutils module not found
> $
>
> Okay, but some research revealed that there does not exist any
> working distutils for Python 3.0.1 yet:
> http://regebro.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/setuptools-and-easy_install-for-python-3/
>
> If the language is still at the point where they're breaking fundamental
> tools with each dot-release, I don't think it's really stable enough for
> us to spend effort on :-(

Well, the point of 3.0 was to "break the world"...

> I also found out that my favorite distro is just *starting* to think
> about what it will take to migrate to Python 3, and they seem to think
> that it's not going to be viable till around Fedora 13 (a year away):
> https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-April/msg00085.html
>
> So my conclusion is that Python 3.0 is much too wet behind the ears for
> us to worry about in PG 8.4. I'd guess that we should come back to the
> issue towards the end of 2009, and perhaps think about back-porting
> after we have something working in 8.5.

It is not "wet" (the new interfaces should be stable), but it is break
from 2.x series. This means that users of PL/Python should not expect
PL/Python to automatically work with 3.0. Supporting 3.0 will be a new
feature. So it's OK to drop it from 8.4.

--
marko