Following

./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local --with-assertions

and then running make leads to an error:

$ make
gcc -pthread -c -Wno-unused-result -Wsign-compare -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall    -std=c99 -Wextra -Wno-unused-result -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Werror=implicit-function-declaration  -I./Include/internal  -I. -I./Include    -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o Objects/codeobject.o Objects/codeobject.c
gcc -pthread -c -Wno-unused-result -Wsign-compare -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall    -std=c99 -Wextra -Wno-unused-result -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Werror=implicit-function-declaration  -I./Include/internal  -I. -I./Include    -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o Objects/complexobject.o Objects/complexobject.c
gcc -pthread -c -Wno-unused-result -Wsign-compare -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall    -std=c99 -Wextra -Wno-unused-result -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Werror=implicit-function-declaration  -I./Include/internal  -I. -I./Include    -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o Objects/descrobject.o Objects/descrobject.c
In file included from ./Include/object.h:746:0,
                 from ./Include/pytime.h:6,
                 from ./Include/Python.h:85,
                 from Objects/descrobject.c:3:
./Include/object.h:111:38: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
 #define _PyObject_CAST(op) ((PyObject*)(op))
                                      ^
./Include/cpython/object.h:337:36: note: in definition of macro ‘PyType_HasFeature’
 #define PyType_HasFeature(t,f)  (((t)->tp_flags & (f)) != 0)
                                    ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:18: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_FastSubclass’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                  ^
./Include/object.h:122:34: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyObject_CAST’
 #define Py_TYPE(ob)             (_PyObject_CAST(ob)->ob_type)
                                  ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:38: note: in expansion of macro ‘Py_TYPE’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                                      ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:1042:56: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyUnicode_Check’
 #define _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(op, check_content) PyUnicode_Check(op)
                                                        ^
./Include/internal/pycore_object.h:14:17: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyUnicode_CheckConsistency’
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(PyObject *op, int check_content);
                 ^
./Include/object.h:111:40: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘(’ token
 #define _PyObject_CAST(op) ((PyObject*)(op))
                                        ^
./Include/cpython/object.h:337:36: note: in definition of macro ‘PyType_HasFeature’
 #define PyType_HasFeature(t,f)  (((t)->tp_flags & (f)) != 0)
                                    ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:18: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_FastSubclass’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                  ^
./Include/object.h:122:34: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyObject_CAST’
 #define Py_TYPE(ob)             (_PyObject_CAST(ob)->ob_type)
                                  ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:38: note: in expansion of macro ‘Py_TYPE’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                                      ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:1042:56: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyUnicode_Check’
 #define _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(op, check_content) PyUnicode_Check(op)
                                                        ^
./Include/internal/pycore_object.h:14:17: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyUnicode_CheckConsistency’
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(PyObject *op, int check_content);
                 ^
./Include/object.h:122:52: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘->’ token
 #define Py_TYPE(ob)             (_PyObject_CAST(ob)->ob_type)
                                                    ^
./Include/cpython/object.h:337:36: note: in definition of macro ‘PyType_HasFeature’
 #define PyType_HasFeature(t,f)  (((t)->tp_flags & (f)) != 0)
                                    ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:18: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_FastSubclass’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                  ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:38: note: in expansion of macro ‘Py_TYPE’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                                      ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:1042:56: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyUnicode_Check’
 #define _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(op, check_content) PyUnicode_Check(op)
                                                        ^
./Include/internal/pycore_object.h:14:17: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyUnicode_CheckConsistency’
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(PyObject *op, int check_content);
                 ^
./Include/cpython/object.h:337:38: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘->’ token
 #define PyType_HasFeature(t,f)  (((t)->tp_flags & (f)) != 0)
                                      ^
./Include/object.h:351:35: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_HasFeature’
 #define PyType_FastSubclass(t,f)  PyType_HasFeature(t,f)
                                   ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:18: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_FastSubclass’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                  ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:1042:56: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyUnicode_Check’
 #define _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(op, check_content) PyUnicode_Check(op)
                                                        ^
./Include/internal/pycore_object.h:14:17: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyUnicode_CheckConsistency’
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(PyObject *op, int check_content);
                 ^
./Include/cpython/object.h:337:56: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘!=’ token
 #define PyType_HasFeature(t,f)  (((t)->tp_flags & (f)) != 0)
                                                        ^
./Include/object.h:351:35: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_HasFeature’
 #define PyType_FastSubclass(t,f)  PyType_HasFeature(t,f)
                                   ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:115:18: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyType_FastSubclass’
                  PyType_FastSubclass(Py_TYPE(op), Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS)
                  ^
./Include/unicodeobject.h:1042:56: note: in expansion of macro ‘PyUnicode_Check’
 #define _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(op, check_content) PyUnicode_Check(op)
                                                        ^
./Include/internal/pycore_object.h:14:17: note: in expansion of macro ‘_PyUnicode_CheckConsistency’
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(PyObject *op, int check_content);
                 ^
Makefile:1711: recipe for target 'Objects/descrobject.o' failed
make: *** [Objects/descrobject.o] Error 1

BTW, this happens even if Py_DEBUG=true is defined. System where the failure occurred: Ubuntu 16.04, 64-bit.

BTW it also seems to fail when just Py_DEBUG is specified (no --with-assertions).

Adding Thomas and Victor based on git blame on some of the source lines concerned.

The problem is _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency switched from being only defined when Py_DEBUG is set, to being defined unconditionally. That was a good change, but it made the API-compatibility hack of #defining _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency in Include/unicodeobject.h do the wrong thing. PR #16594.

My intent in bpo-36389 was to also provide _PyObject_CheckConsistency() in release mode to help debugging GC crash, especially in visit_decref(). I wrote PR 16612 to fix my implementation.

New changeset 6876257eaabdb30f27ebcbd7d2557278ce2e5705 by Victor Stinner in branch 'master':
bpo-36389: _PyObject_CheckConsistency() available in release mode (GH-16612)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/6876257eaabdb30f27ebcbd7d2557278ce2e5705

New changeset 435b2eeb7bc5b8ec264e900b38bcb3d76552d777 by Victor Stinner in branch '3.8':
bpo-38376: Fix _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency() definition (GH-16623)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/435b2eeb7bc5b8ec264e900b38bcb3d76552d777

I pushed one more fix in https://bugs.python.org/issue36389#msg354138

After pushing some fixes to 3.8 and master branches, I tested the following commands in 3.7, 3.8 and master branches:

make distclean
./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local --with-assertions
make
./python -m test -j0 test_bytes test_gc test_capi

These commands now work in the 3 branches. I close the issue.

Thanks Vinay Sajip for the bug report! Thanks T. Wouters for previous fixes.

@T. Wouters: I took the liberty of closing your PR 16594 in favor of my PR 16623. I may backport PR 16612 enhancements to 3.8 later, but not jus before a 3.8.0 final release to no stress our release manager ;-)

New changeset f82ce5b1b12873b65927149a016be6a7c65e979d by Victor Stinner in branch '3.8':
[3.8] bpo-36389: Backport debug enhancements from master (GH-16796)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/f82ce5b1b12873b65927149a016be6a7c65e979d