/Misc/Porting
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- Q. I want to port Python to a new platform. How do I begin?
- A. I guess the two things to start with is to familiarize yourself
- with are the development system for your target platform and the
- generic build process for Python. Make sure you can compile and run a
- simple hello-world program on your target platform. Make sure you can
- compile and run the Python interpreter on a platform to which it has
- already been ported (preferably Unix, but Mac or Windows will do,
- too).
- I also would never start something like this without at least
- medium-level understanding of your target platform (i.e. how it is
- generally used, how to write platform specific apps etc.) and Python
- (or else you'll never know how to test the results).
- The build process for Python, in particular the Makefiles in the
- source distribution, will give you a hint on which files to compile
- for Python. Not all source files are relevant -- some are platform
- specific, others are only used in emergencies (e.g. getopt.c). The
- Makefiles tell the story.
- You'll also need a pyconfig.h file tailored for your platform. You can
- start with pyconfig.h.in, read the comments and turn on definitions that
- apply to your platform.
- And you'll need a config.c file, which lists the built-in modules you
- support. Start with Modules/config.c.in.
- Finally, you'll run into some things that aren't supported on your
- target platform. Forget about the posix module for now -- simply take
- it out of the config.c file.
- Bang on it until you get a >>> prompt. (You may have to disable the
- importing of "site.py" and "exceptions.py" by passing -X and -S
- options.
- Then bang on it until it executes very simple Python statements.
- Now bang on it some more. At some point you'll want to use the os
- module; this is the time to start thinking about what to to with the
- posix module. It's okay to simply #ifdef out those functions that
- cause problems; the remaining ones will be quite useful.