Issue 26524: document what config directory is used for (original) (raw)

Solaris ships Python versions 2.7, 3.4 and 3.5 at present. For 2.7, we ship both 32-bit and 64-bit versions; for 3.4 and 3.5 we only ship 64-bit versions. For 2.7, we ship /usr/lib/python2.7/config/ with the usual suspects (Makefile, Setup.config, config.c, install-sh, python.o, Setup, Setup.local, config.c.in, makesetup) thereunder for the 32-bit version but for the 64-bit version, we don't ship the equivalent directory at all. For 3.4 and 3.5, we ship /usr/lib/python3.[45]/config-3.[45]m/ with its usual suspects. We had a bug filed about the discrepancy in shipping the 32-bit but not the 64-bit version of that directory for 2.7. An investigation suggested the directory is not used for 2.7, nor did it seem used (per docs we could find) for 3.x. But testing revealed it is used for 3.x, as our builds failed, e.g.:

error: invalid Python installation: unable to open /usr/lib/python3.4/config-3.4m/Makefile (No such file or directory)

when we removed the config-3.[45]m directories. OK, fine, it was an experiment, so we'll keep the directories. But it was not clear to us from the docs we could find, such as: https://docs.python.org/3.6/extending/extending.html exactly how the config directory is used. This is a documentation enhancement request to clarify how the config directory is used.