99
1010Archive-name: python-faq/part1
1111Submitted-by: Guido van Rossum <
[email protected] >
12- Version: 1.22
12+ Version: 1.23
1313Last-modified: 10 April 1995
1414
1515This article contains answers to Frequently Asked Questions about
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Author's address:
30303131
3232The latest version of this FAQ is available by anonymous ftp from
33- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/python- FAQ>. It will also be posted
33+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/FAQ>. It will also be posted
3434regularly to the newsgroups comp.answers <URL:news:comp.answers> and
3535comp.lang.python <URL:news:comp.lang.python>.
3636
@@ -199,18 +199,19 @@ Here's an overview of the questions per chapter:
199199 7. Using Python on non-UNIX platforms
200200 7.1. Q. Is there a Mac version of Python?
201201 7.2. Q. Is there a DOS version of Python?
202- 7.3. Q. Is there a Windows version of Python?
202+ 7.3. Q. Is there a Windows 3.1(1) version of Python?
203203 7.4. Q. Is there a Windows NT version of Python?
204- 7.5. Q. Is there an OS/2 version of Python?
205- 7.6. Q. Is there a VMS version of Python?
206- 7.7. Q. What about IBM mainframes, or other esoteric non-UNIX
204+ 7.5. Q. Is there a Windows 95 version of Python?
205+ 7.6. Q. Is there an OS/2 version of Python?
206+ 7.7. Q. Is there a VMS version of Python?
207+ 7.8. Q. What about IBM mainframes, or other esoteric non-UNIX
207208 platforms?
208- 7.8 . Q. Where are the source or Makefiles for the non-UNIX versions?
209- 7.9 . Q. What is the status and support for the non-UNIX versions?
210- 7.10 . Q. I have the PC version but it appears to be only a binary.
209+ 7.9 . Q. Where are the source or Makefiles for the non-UNIX versions?
210+ 7.10 . Q. What is the status and support for the non-UNIX versions?
211+ 7.11 . Q. I have a PC version but it appears to be only a binary.
211212 Where's the library?
212- 7.11 . Q. Where's the documentation for the Mac or PC version?
213- 7.12 . Q. The Mac (PC) version doesn't seem to have any facilities for
213+ 7.12 . Q. Where's the documentation for the Mac or PC version?
214+ 7.13 . Q. The Mac (PC) version doesn't seem to have any facilities for
214215 creating or editing programs apart from entering it interactively, and
215216 there seems to be no way to save code that was entered interactively.
216217 How do I create a Python program on the Mac (PC)?
@@ -255,15 +256,17 @@ the TV series or of a can of SPAM :-)
255256
256257A. The latest complete Python source distribution is always available
257258by anonymous ftp, e.g.
258- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/python1.1.tar.gz>. It is a gzipped
259- tar file containing the complete C source, LaTeX documentation, Python
260- library modules, example programs, and several useful pieces of freely
261- distributable software. This will compile and run out of the box on
262- most UNIX platforms. (See section 7 for non-UNIX information.)
259+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/python1.2.tar.gz>. It is a
260+ gzipped tar file containing the complete C source, LaTeX
261+ documentation, Python library modules, example programs, and several
262+ useful pieces of freely distributable software. This will compile and
263+ run out of the box on most UNIX platforms. (See section 7 for
264+ non-UNIX information.)
263265
264266Occasionally a set of patches is issued which has to be applied using
265267the patch program. These patches are placed in the same directory,
266- e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/patch1.1.1>.
268+ e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/patch1.1.1>. (At the time
269+ of writing, no patches exist for 1.2.)
267270
268271An index of said ftp directory can be found in the file INDEX. An
269272HTML version of the index can be found in the file index.html,
@@ -274,7 +277,7 @@ HTML version of the index can be found in the file index.html,
274277A. The LaTeX source for the documentation is part of the source
275278distribution. If you don't have LaTeX, the latest Python
276279documentation set is always available by anonymous ftp, e.g.
277- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/pythondoc-ps1.1 .tar.gz>. It is a
280+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/doc/postscript .tar.gz>. It is a
278281gzipped tar file containing PostScript files of the reference manual,
279282the library manual, and the tutorial. Note that the library manual is
280283the most important one of the set, as much of Python's power stems
@@ -305,15 +308,15 @@ A. There is a newsgroup, comp.lang.python <URL:news:comp.lang.python>,
305308and a mailing list. The newsgroup and mailing list are gatewayed into
306309each other -- if you can read news it's unnecessary to subscribe to
307310the mailing list. Send e-mail to <
[email protected] > to
308- (un)subscribe to the mailing list. Hypermail archives of
309- (nearly) everything posted to the mailing list (and thus the
310- newsgroup) are available on our WWW server,
311+ (un)subscribe to the mailing list. Hypermail archives of (nearly)
312+ everything posted to the mailing list (and thus the newsgroup) are
313+ available on our WWW server,
311314<URL:http://www.cwi.nl/~guido/hypermail/index.html>. The raw archives
312315are also available by ftp, e.g.
313- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/mailinglist.gz>. The uncompressed
314- versions of these files can be read with the standard UNIX Mail
315- program ("Mail -f file") or with nn ("nn file"). To read them using
316- MH, you could use "inc -file file".
316+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/mail/ mailinglist.gz>. The
317+ uncompressed versions of these files can be read with the standard
318+ UNIX Mail program ("Mail -f file") or with nn ("nn file"). To read
319+ them using MH, you could use "inc -file file".
317320
3183211.7. Q. Is there a WWW page devoted to Python?
319322
@@ -332,12 +335,12 @@ documentation set (as hypertext, not just PostScript).
332335
333336If you wish to browse this collection of HTML files on your own
334337machine, it is available bundled up by anonymous ftp,
335- e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/python- html.tar.gz>. (This
338+ e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/doc/ html.tar.gz>. (This
336339requires some manual patch-up for the references to images,
337340unfortunately.)
338341
339342An Emacs-INFO set containing the library manual is also available by
340- ftp, e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/python-lin -info.tar.gz>.
343+ ftp, e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/doc/lib -info.tar.gz>.
341344
3423451.9. Q. Is there a book on Python, or will there be one out soon?
343346
@@ -367,12 +370,12 @@ A. A recent high-level description of Python is:
367370
368371PostScript for this paper and for the slides used for the accompanying
369372presentation is available by ftp as
370- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/nluug-paper.ps> and
371- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/nluug-slides.ps>, respectively.
373+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/doc/ nluug-paper.ps> and
374+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/doc/ nluug-slides.ps>, respectively.
372375
373376Slides for a talk on Python that I gave at the Usenix Symposium on
374377Very High Level Languages in Santa Fe, NM, USA in October 1995 are
375- available as <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/vhll-slides.ps>.
378+ available as <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/doc/ vhll-slides.ps>.
376379
3773801.12. Q. How does the Python version numbering scheme work?
378381
@@ -630,10 +633,8 @@ toplevel).
630633
631634People have reported problems with gcc 2.5.8 up to 2.6.3. The DEC
632635OSF/1 cc compiler does not have these problems so it's likely a gcc
633- bug. The latest news is that (at least in the 1.2 beta release) the
634- problem still exists but only when you use -O, and only affects the
635- code generated from Python/marshal.c. A fix is to change "long i, n;"
636- into "int i, n;" in w_object().
636+ bug. The latest news is that this has been fixed in Python 1.2 by a
637+ source change (I gave up waiting for a fixed gcc).
637638
6386393.9. Q. I use VPATH but some targets are built in the source directory.
639640
@@ -972,10 +973,8 @@ sys.path.
972973For X-related modules (Xt and Xm) you will have to do more work: they
973974are currently not part of the standard Python distribution. You will
974975have to ftp the Extensions tar file, e.g.
975- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/extensions.tar.gz> and follow the
976- instructions there. Note: the X related modules are still somewhat
977- flakey, so don't try this unless you alread know a bit or two about
978- building X applications on your platform.
976+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/extensions.tar.gz> and follow the
977+ instructions there.
979978
980979See also the next question.
981980
@@ -1024,7 +1023,7 @@ Overmars -- ftp'able from <URL:ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/SGI/FORMS/>).
10241023- There's an interface to X11, including the Athena and Motif widget
10251024sets (and a few individual widgets, like Mosaic's HTML widget and
10261025SGI's GL widget) in the Extensions set, which is separately ftp'able
1027- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/extensions.tar.gz>.
1026+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/ extensions.tar.gz>.
10281027
10291028- There's an interface to SUIT, the U of Virginia's Simple User
10301029Interface Toolkit; it can be ftp'ed from
@@ -1062,10 +1061,11 @@ A. There's an interface to SYBASE by John Redford
10621061
10631062There's an interface to metalbase by Lance Ellinghaus
10641063<
[email protected] >; it is part of the separate Extensions distribution
1065- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/extensions.tar.gz>.
1064+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/ extensions.tar.gz>.
10661065
10671066Anthony Baxter <
[email protected] > has written an interface to
1068- mSQL (mini-SQL). <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/PymSQL.tar.gz>.
1067+ mSQL (mini-SQL).
1068+ <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/contrib/PymSQL.tar.gz>.
10691069
10701070Tom Culliton <
[email protected] > has written an Oracle module. Write
10711071him to get a copy of the latest version.
@@ -1302,7 +1302,7 @@ A. The standard library has a module urllib, which can retrieve most
13021302commonly used URL types (file, ftp, http, gopher).
13031303
13041304The Demo2/www directory (Demo2 has to be retrieved separately from the
1305- Python ftp sites <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/demo2.tar.gz>)
1305+ Python ftp sites <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/ demo2.tar.gz>)
13061306contains some (really old) code to parse HTML and to display it.
13071307
13081308Steve Miale <
[email protected] > has written a modular WWW browser
@@ -1754,39 +1754,18 @@ surely hit upon it sooner or later.
17541754
175517557.1. Q. Is there a Mac version of Python?
17561756
1757- A. Yes. It is on most ftp sites carrying Python as python.sea.hqx,
1758- e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/python_1.1.sea.hqx> -- this is a
1759- self-extracting archive containing the application binary as well as
1760- the Lib modules.
1757+ A. Yes, see the "mac" subdirectory of the distribution sites,
1758+ e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/mac/>.
17611759
176217607.2. Q. Is there a DOS version of Python?
17631761
1764- A. Yes. More than one, actually: 16python.exe runs in standard DOS
1765- mode on 186 CPUs or higher; 32python.exe uses a DOS extender and only
1766- runs on a 386 or higher CPUs. Although 16python.exe does not pass the
1767- test set because test_grammar is too big for the parser, it actually
1768- has about 270 kbyte of allocatable heap space, which is sufficient for
1769- fairly large programs. 32python.exe is distributed as a tar file
1770- containing the required DOS extended and 387 emulator. Both are on
1771- most ftp sites carrying Python.
1762+ A. Yes, see the "pc" subdirectory of the distribution sites,
1763+ e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/pc/>.
17721764
1773- The file dosbuild.tar.gz on the standard ftp sites contains
1774- rudimentary Makefiles and instructions
1775- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/dosbuild.tar.gz>.
1765+ 7.3. Q. Is there a Windows 3.1(1) version of Python?
17761766
1777- 7.3. Q. Is there a Windows version of Python?
1778-
1779- A. Yes. Use qwpython.exe. The only problem with it: ^C
1780- unconditionally kills the entire program -- it does not raise
1781- KeyboardInterrupt. You can also run 16python.exe or 32python.exe in a
1782- "DOS box", but qwpython.exe appears to be slightly faster.
1783-
1784- There aren't any Makefiles at this moment. Sorry.
1785-
1786- Using Win32s (a free NT compatibility package by Microsoft) you can
1787- also use the NT version by Mark Hammond -- the Win32s package is also
1788- in that directory (you'll need several MB of disk space to install
1789- it). See the next question.
1767+ A. Yes, also see the "pc" subdirectory of the distribution sites,
1768+ e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/pc/>.
17901769
179117707.4. Q. Is there a Windows NT version of Python?
17921771
@@ -1804,45 +1783,33 @@ Note that currently there is no unified compilation environment for
18041783all NT platforms -- hopefully Microsoft will fix this with the release
18051784of Visual C++ 2.0.
18061785
1807- 7.5. Q. Is there an OS/2 version of Python?
1786+ 7.5. Q. Is there a Windows 95 version of Python?
1787+
1788+ A. The Windows NT version might work, otherwise the Windows 3.1(1)
1789+ version should work (isn't Windows 95 supposed to be backwards
1790+ compatible?).
1791+
1792+ 7.6. Q. Is there an OS/2 version of Python?
18081793
1809- A. Yes. You can ftp an old version from the usual places as
1810- pyth_os2.zip, e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/pyth_os2.zip>.
1811- This contains both an executable and Makefiles for those fortunate
1812- enough to have a C compiler. A newer port is in progress -- Chris
1813- Vale <
[email protected] > is doing the work, using Borland C, based on
1814- Mark Hammond's NT port.
1794+ A. Yes, also see the "pc" subdirectory of the distribution sites,
1795+ e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/pc/>.
18151796
1816- 7.6 . Q. Is there a VMS version of Python?
1797+ 7.7 . Q. Is there a VMS version of Python?
18171798
1818- A. I think not (yet). This question has been asked on the list
1819- several times and I've never seen an answer. Maybe someone with a VMS
1820- C compiler could attempt a port? Probably coming up with proper
1821- Makefiles, config.h and config.c should be sufficient. If you succeed
1822- (or even if you get stuck halfway), please let me know! (Info as of
1823- 23 September 1994.)
1799+ A. I think not. This question has been asked on the list several
1800+ times and I've never seen an affirmative answer.
18241801
1825- 7.7 . Q. What about IBM mainframes, or other esoteric non-UNIX
1802+ 7.8 . Q. What about IBM mainframes, or other esoteric non-UNIX
18261803platforms?
18271804
1828- A. Basically, the same story as for VMS... (Info as of 23 September
1829- 1994.)
1805+ A. Basically, the same story as for VMS...
18301806
1831- 7.8 . Q. Where are the source or Makefiles for the non-UNIX versions?
1807+ 7.9 . Q. Where are the source or Makefiles for the non-UNIX versions?
18321808
1833- A. The standard sources can (almost) be used. See the previous
1834- questions for availability of Makefiles/projects or patches. If you
1835- find things in the standard sources that don't work on your particular
1836- platform, please let me know and I'll integrate a solution into the
1837- next release of the standard sources. If you submit a fix, please use
1838- some kind of #ifdef so as to keep the source working for other
1839- platforms. In particular, if the patch works around the availability
1840- of a particular function of header file, you should mimic the
1841- HAVE_... style used by the configure script -- you can then submit a
1842- config.h file for a particular platform so there are no absolutely
1843- platform-specific #ifdefs in the rest of the sources.
1809+ A. The standard sources can (almost) be used. Additional sources can
1810+ be found in the platform-specific subdirectories of the distribution.
18441811
1845- 7.9 . Q. What is the status and support for the non-UNIX versions?
1812+ 7.10 . Q. What is the status and support for the non-UNIX versions?
18461813
18471814A. I don't have access to most of these platforms, so in general I am
18481815dependent on material submitted by volunteers(*). However I strive to
@@ -1853,15 +1820,14 @@ version to the various non-UNIX platforms should be easy.
18531820(*) For the Macintosh, that volunteer is me, with help from Jack
1854182118551822
1856- 7.10 . Q. I have the PC version but it appears to be only a binary.
1823+ 7.11 . Q. I have a PC version but it appears to be only a binary.
18571824Where's the library?
18581825
18591826A. You still need to copy the files from the distribution directory
18601827"python/Lib" to your system. If you don't have the full distribution,
1861- you can get the file pythonlib<version>.tar.gz from most ftp sites
1862- carrying Python; this is a subset of the distribution containing just
1863- those files, e.g.
1864- <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/pythonlib1.1.tar.gz>.
1828+ you can get the file lib<version>.tar.gz from most ftp sites carrying
1829+ Python; this is a subset of the distribution containing just those
1830+ files, e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/python/src/lib1.1.tar.gz>.
18651831
18661832Once you have installed the library, you need to point sys.path to it.
18671833Assuming the library is in C:\misc\python\lib, the following commands
@@ -1877,13 +1843,12 @@ as follows (talking to a DOS prompt):
18771843
18781844 C> SET PYTHONPATH=C:\misc\python\lib
18791845
1880- 7.11 . Q. Where's the documentation for the Mac or PC version?
1846+ 7.12 . Q. Where's the documentation for the Mac or PC version?
18811847
1882- A. There isn't any. The documentation for the Unix version also
1883- applies to the Mac and PC versions. Where applicable, differences
1884- are indicated in the text.
1848+ A. The documentation for the Unix version also applies to the Mac and
1849+ PC versions. Where applicable, differences are indicated in the text.
18851850
1886- 7.12 . Q. The Mac (PC) version doesn't seem to have any facilities for
1851+ 7.13 . Q. The Mac (PC) version doesn't seem to have any facilities for
18871852creating or editing programs apart from entering it interactively, and
18881853there seems to be no way to save code that was entered interactively.
18891854How do I create a Python program on the Mac (PC)?
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