Installing Python on a 64-Bit OS

[Nico Grubert]

Hi there,

I'd like to install Python 2.3.5. on a 64-Bit OS (Suse Linux Enterprise
Server 10) on an AMD Opteron 64-Bit machine.
I have to use Python 2.3.5.

Do I need a special source archive or can I use "Python-2.3.5.tgz" from
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.3.5/Python-2.3.5.tgz ?

Is there anything special I have to care about or is installing Python
on a 64 Bit OS just as easy as installing it on a 32-Bit OS?

Regards,
Nico

[Ivan Voras]

Nico Grubert wrote:

Is there anything special I have to care about or is installing Python
on a 64 Bit OS just as easy as installing it on a 32-Bit OS?

It is as easy. Look around, you'll probably find a pre-built binary
package for your OS.

[Daniel Dittmar]

Nico Grubert wrote:

I'd like to install Python 2.3.5. on a 64-Bit OS (Suse Linux Enterprise
Server 10) on an AMD Opteron 64-Bit machine.
I have to use Python 2.3.5.

Do I need a special source archive or can I use "Python-2.3.5.tgz" from
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.3.5/Python-2.3.5.tgz ?

Is there anything special I have to care about or is installing Python
on a 64 Bit OS just as easy as installing it on a 32-Bit OS?

On this platform, it should be easy to build from the sources as gcc
builds 64 bit programs by default.

On some platforms (Solaris/Sparc, AIX, HP-UX/PA-RISC), the compiler
defaults to 32bit programs. You then have to convince configure to use
the right CFLAGS. The exact technique might differ from configure to
configure: some require an option, some require an environment variable.
Tip: create wrapper scripts for the compiler (and possibly ld and ar),
which uses the proper options. Add the location of these scripts at the
start of PATH, thus overiding the compiler. Now all configures will
default to 64 bit.

Daniel

[Martin v. Löwis]

Nico Grubert schrieb:

Is there anything special I have to care about or is installing Python
on a 64 Bit OS just as easy as installing it on a 32-Bit OS?

Despite what everybody else said: most likely, special care is
necessary. However, nobody probably knows what precisely you need
to be aware of.

Several changes have been made to Python 2.4 and 2.5 to support
AMD64-Linux better, and not all of these changes have been
incorporated into Python 2.3, as this software is no longer
maintained.

My advise is just to try building it, run the test suite, and
see whether it passes. If it fails to compile or pass the
test suite, post a message with the specific problem - hopefully,
somebody will remember how it was fixed.

As others have said: you should really try to use the python 2.4
that comes with the operating system. Can you share the reason why
you have to use Python 2.3?

Regards,
Martin

[Nico Grubert]

Several changes have been made to Python 2.4 and 2.5 to support

AMD64-Linux better, and not all of these changes have been
incorporated into Python 2.3, as this software is no longer
maintained.

As others have said: you should really try to use the python 2.4
that comes with the operating system. Can you share the reason why
you have to use Python 2.3?

I actually should use the Python 2.3.5 for an application server called
"Zope" and a Zope product that officially does not support the latest
Zope version yet. The latest stable Zope version requires Python 2.4.2
so I'll installed Python 2.4.3. and I am trying to get it running.

Thanks for the tips.

Nico