Re: some try-ark suggestions

Jonathan:

   Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 23:14:26 +0100
   From: Jonathan Hogg <[email protected]>
   Cc: "Will Partain" <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,
           <[email protected]>

   Hmmm. I started my system with (RedHat 6.2):

   $ rpm -q python PyXML
   python-1.5.2-13
   PyXML-0.6.5-1

This is what I have installed:

[berto@localhost ark]$ rpm -q python PyXML
python-2.0-9mdk
PyXML-0.6.5-1

   Then bootstrapped with ARK to:

   $ ls python*.xml PyXML*.xml
   PyXML--0.6.5.xml  python--2.1.xml

How do I "bootstrap with ARK" in the sense you mean here?  Use ARK to install
anew these versions of Python and PyXML, right?

   Here's what I get:

   $ python
   Python 2.1 (#3, May 27 2001, 14:54:04)
   >>> import xml.dom.core
   Traceback (most recent call last):
     File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
   ImportError: No module named core
   >>> 

   Interesting... Took a look at the code and I see:

           try:
               # this ought to be Python 2.0 with PyXML 0.6.1 or
               # thereabouts.
               import xml.dom.ext.reader.Sax
               [...]
           except ImportError:
               # this is probably something like Python 1.5.2/1.6
               # with PyXML 0.5.5.1.  Or *something*.
               import xml.dom.core
               [...]

   If I try:

   $ python
   Python 2.1 (#3, May 27 2001, 14:54:04)
   >>> import xml.dom.ext.reader.Sax
   >>> 

   No problem. Similarly:

   $ /usr/bin/python
   Python 1.5.2 (#1, Feb  1 2000, 16:32:16)
   >>> import xml.dom.ext.reader.Sax
   >>> 

Here's what I get:

[berto@localhost ark]$ python
Python 2.0 (#1, Apr 11 2001, 19:18:08) 
[GCC 2.96 20000731 (Linux-Mandrake 8.0 2.96-0.48mdk)] on linux-i386
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>> import xml.dom.core
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ImportError: No module named core

>>> import xml.dom.ext.reader.Sax
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ImportError: No module named ext.reader.Sax

>>> 

Yikes!

   So I can only guess that something is weird with your installation where 
   it looks like an old PyXML, even though it's a new one. Can you try the 
   above and report back what you get. Also:

   >>> import xml
   >>> xml.version_info
   (0, 6, 5)
   >>> 

[berto@localhost ark]$ python
Python 2.0 (#1, Apr 11 2001, 19:18:08) 
[GCC 2.96 20000731 (Linux-Mandrake 8.0 2.96-0.48mdk)] on linux-i386
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>> import xml

>>> xml.version_info
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
AttributeError: version_info

Yikes!!  Maybe I place too much faith in Mandrakesoft to Do Things Right?

(Bear in mind, I know very little about Python internals or what tricks
to try.)

Or maybe I should do a special upgrade of my Python to 2.1 or ...?

BTW, I've done a *full* install of Mandrake 8.0 on this system.  I've done
nothing at all to muck with the Python subsystem since the installation.

(Hmm.  I recently went through a similar experience with Michel Blanc, who
is writing a PIKT GUI.  He was writing the thing using Gtk-Perl and Glade,
but the default Mandrake setup somehow messed things up so that only a Perl
maven (like Michel) could fix what Mandrakesoft broke and get the thing to
work.  So at my urging, he dropped Glade and has rewritten the prototype
GUI entirely depending solely on Gtk-Perl.  Not being a GUI programmer or
a Perl maven, I have only little idea what he's talking about.  The point
is that with a minimum of pieces--i.e., just one, "a decent Gtk-Perl"--
atop the standard base, I can now use his package.)

   and of course, which version of Python you're using.

See above.

   I'm not sure it's the "latest and greatest" that's the problem, I think 
   it's all the ones in between. Unfortunately, Python and PyXML have been 
   through some revisions and we've not tried all of them together.

I know it will be hard, but you should try to discern and code around some
least common denominator.  It would be a pity, wouldn't it, if you force
would-be users to become Python and XML experts in addition to mastering
Arusha itself?  Or if you tell users of a quite recent Linux distribution
to have to seek out later-versioned Python (or ...) RPMS and install them.
(I began that process with the Perl modules for Michel's GUI, but I
encountered warnings about possibly breaking this or that, and the prospect
of yanking out what Mandrakesoft had put in place and redoing all the Perl
module stuff myself, at which point I said "no dice, this is getting out of
hand.")

   I understand your frustrations and we do appreciate your criticism. I 
   think one of the problems at the moment is that the only people using 
   Arusha are Arusha-users ;-) It's a FAQ-chicken-and-egg thing.

I'm trying to approach this thing as the typical user would, not as someone
with a special private line to you, or Will (or even Harlan!).

   I'm sure this is some curious incompatibility that we can iron out.

I sort of agree with what Harlan wrote in a separate post:  you need to
iron this out automatically in the code, and not force the user to pick up
that hot iron himself/herself.

Berto

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Osterlund, Unix Systems Manager                [email protected]
Grad School of Business, U of Chicago                       phone: 773/702-8898
1101 E. 58th Street, #309, Chicago, IL 60637, USA             fax: 773/702-0233