Compatibility of recent GCC/Python versions

[David Abrahams]

Recently people testing Boost.Python with GCC on Linux have reported
that the extensions being tested have to be compiled with exactly the
same version of GCC as the Python they're being loaded into, or they
get mysterious crashes.

That doesn't correspond to my past experience; it has always been true
that, as long as the compiler used to build Python and the one used to
build the extension have compatible 'C' ABIs, we've been okay. Yes,
if you were going to pass types like FILE* across the Python/C API,
then you additionally need to be sure that the two compilers are using
the same 'C' library. That said, none of the Boost.Python tests do
that.

I'm wondering if there has been a well-known recent change either in Python
or GCC that would account for these new reports. Any relevant
information would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[Robert Kern]

Recently people testing Boost.Python with GCC on Linux have reported
that the extensions being tested have to be compiled with exactly the
same version of GCC as the Python they're being loaded into, or they
get mysterious crashes.

That doesn't correspond to my past experience; it has always been true
that, as long as the compiler used to build Python and the one used to
build the extension have compatible 'C' ABIs, we've been okay. Yes,
if you were going to pass types like FILE* across the Python/C API,
then you additionally need to be sure that the two compilers are using
the same 'C' library. That said, none of the Boost.Python tests do
that.

I'm wondering if there has been a well-known recent change either in Python
or GCC that would account for these new reports. Any relevant
information would be appreciated.

I've had intermittent problems on OS X and gcc-4.0 with, well,
everything, Python-related or otherwise. So I ignore it and use gcc-3.3
and g77-3.4 and live happily ever after.

--
Robert Kern
(e-mail address removed)

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
-- Richard Harter