If you're building Python on os.name == 'posix' but
when there is no $HOME defined in your environment, you
cannot build Python.  This is because in the bowels of
distutils, you end up in check_environ(), which has
these lines:

    if os.name == 'posix' and not
os.environ.has_key('HOME'):
        import pwd
        os.environ['HOME'] = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[5]

However, in a from-scratch build, the pwd module isn't
built by the time you get here.  I found this when
using SCons to build Python, since by default the
enclosing environment isn't passed to subprocesses.

I can work around this in my builds but Python's
setup.py should probably synthesize a $HOME if one
doesn't exist.  (Or maybe someone has a better idea for
a workaround).

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Seems that the pwdmodule entry in Modules/Setup.dist must be
uncommented.

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I had this problem, too.
The fix proposed by birkenfeld on 9/22 works for me.

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Let me revise that last comment.  There are some build
differences when this is done.

Uncommenting pwd in Setup.dist allows python to build, but
the 'pwd' extension (and pwd.so) does not get built.

And pwdmodule.o is ar'd into libpython2.4.a (& linked into
libpython2.4.so)

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Well, pwd will be built-in then, if that's a problem.

Assigning to loewis to look over it.

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Making pwd builtin is fine with me. Make sure you move the
line to the other builtin modules, and add a comment telling
why it is need (i.e. when HOME isn't set).

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I made the suggested change in revision 41834/41835.

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Guido said:
"""
Hm. Methinks that the distutils code should have been patched to
survive the possibility of "import pwd" failing (or
pwd.getpwuid()
failing!) rather than hiding the problem by forcing pwd to
be built.
The latter seems a much less robust solution.
"""

Who is responsible for distutils?

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There isn't a specific maintainer for distutils; it's nearly
unmaintained.

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Okay, so I think I'll leave the fix in for the time being.

Fixed by 41834. Please leave open if reverting the fix and patching
distutils is still a option, close if not.

It seems too late to make the fix Guido suggested, since there have been a number of releases with pwd as built-in module now. Closing soon if there are no comments.