Re: Python recompile

On 03/03/2025 17:20, Waldek Hebisch wrote:
> In comp.lang.c James Kuyper <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On 3/2/25 12:54, Waldek Hebisch wrote:
>>> In comp.lang.c The Doctor <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> How do I compensate for
>>>>
>>>> ld: error: relocation R_X86_64_32 cannot be used against symbol '_PyRuntime'; recompile with -fPIC
>>>>>>> defined in /usr/local/lib/libpython3.13.a(pylifecycle.o)
>>>>>>> referenced by thread_pthread.h:138 (Python/thread_pthread.h:138)
>>>>>>>                thread.o:(PyThread_init_thread) in archive /usr/local/lib/libpython3.13.a
>>>>
>>>
>>> This is real world question and as such is considered off-topic
>>> in comp.lang.c.  However, you could try '-no-pie' to the compiler.
>>
>> Real world questions about the C programming language are entirely
>> on-topic here. Note, however, that many questions posted here are not
>> about C itself, but about the quirks of particular implementations of C.
>> You can get better answers to such questions by asking in forums
>> specific to the relevant implementation, and helpful people will remind
>> your of that. It's a misunderstanding of those redirections to conclude
>> that c.l.c is not for real world questions.
>>
>> However Python is NOT an implementation of C, not even by the loosest
>> reasonable interpretation, so why should it be discussed here?.
> 
> The question is about C implementation.  Namely, the bible for
> this group, that is C standard requires C implementation to
> produce executables.  And making executable from C sources
> it at core of the OP question.  Fact that compiling this source
> is supposed to produce Python interpreter or maybe some
> supporting shared library is irrelevant here.
> 
> One could call the problem "Linux problem".  Namely, many
> (maybe all) Linux distribution modify(ed) gcc so that creating
> position independent executables is the default and to
> prevent this one need '-no-pie' at final stage.  And to
> generate position independent executable all code has to
> be compiled as position independent code which needs '-fPIC'
> option.  Similarly, if OP is trying to create shared
> library, then on Linux all code inluded in the shared
> librayr must be compiled as position independent code,
> that is using '-fPIC'.
> 
> Dismissing this as linker problem misses important
> points:
> - linking is considerd part of C implementation

C requires independent compilation. It doesn't say how that should be done.

> - '-fPIC' is option for compiler proper
> - '-no-pie' is handled by the compiler driver

Those are compiler- and platform-specific options, nothing to do with 
the language.

My two C compilers don't use a linker.


> And frankly, making executables or shared library from
> C code is real world thing that C programmer want to do
> and non-programmers would not do.

There are a thousand C compilers; I can't imagine that their options and 
various capabilities are all on topic.

gcc is sometimes given a free pass because it is so widely used, but the 
options used with it are more general (eg. -O3 or -s).

> OP uses some build system and fixing his problem presumably
> needs changes to build system.  And reasonably build system
> may be cosidered of topic here.

That's even more off-topic. Build systems use things like CMake and Make 
which have their own syntax, and which are designed to work with 
multiple languages.


> However, fact that compilation
> proper and final linking must use consitent options is
> real world C problem.  I appreciate that many years ago
> comp.lang.c regulars decided that they do not want to answer
> such real world question.  However, do you want to tell OP
> "pretend that your main program is in Fortran and ask your
> question in comp.lang.fortran"?  FYI, similar questions were
> asked and answered in comp.lang.fortran without questioning
> topicality.  So clearly, the only thing which makes such
> question of topic here is past deliberate decision to exclude
> them.


Fortran itself is rather niche; C isn't.

I suggested that Reddit or Stackoverflow could be used, as they're less 
fussed. There would also be a lot more people who could help.

On Reddit, the main C forum has 186K members, and the Fortran one under 
8K. However, the Python subreddit has 1.3M members; that might be worth 
trying too.