The attached code causes the child processes to hang on QNX. The hang is caused by the logging module trying to acquire the module lock while in an atfork() handler. In a system where semaphore state is kept in user mode and is thus inherited from the parent on fork() the semaphore may appear to have a value of 0, and thus will never be posted to in the single-threaded child.
I don't know how it works on other systems - may be pure chance.

Note the original problem stems when you using "setup.py -j <NJOBS>".

The attached reproducer is a bit of a red herring, because indeed doing fork() + exec() in pure Python is too fragile. That is why the standard subprocess does it in C. The problem here is that the distutils.spawn module still has its hand-baked fork() + exec() pure Python code from the 1990s.

So the solution to the OP's actual problem should be to recode distutils.spawn using the subprocess module.

Original mailing-list discussion at:
https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-dev@python.org/thread/PTJ3UAZNYBYBYQ4WLMSERZR2XIVWISLM/

I'm not convinced that a multi-threaded fork()+exec() from C would be any better, unless the Python code goes to great lengths to avoid any non-async-signal-safe operations between the fork() and the exec().
So along with the proposed change to switch to the subprocess() module I would like to propose that that module switch to using posix_spawn() instead of fork()+exec().

@antoine: I can sort of see why you consider the small example a red herring, since it mixes threads and fork. Nevertheless, a simpler version (not using an executor) would probably work just fine? It's the edge cases where the mixture becomes explosive. So I still think there's something that could be improved in ThreadPoolExecutor.

@elad: Your script contains a bug (there is no definition of 'exec_fn'). But anything that returns or raises from the child process does indeed hang.

Since I can repro this on macOS I do QNX is a red herring here.

"Your script contains a bug (there is no definition of 'exec_fn')"

Told you I wasn't much of a Python developer ;-)
This was just copy-pasted from spawn.py and I missed the fact that exec_fn() is not a library function.

Your last comment wasn't clear - do you see this problem on macOS? Is it only after you fixed the example? For me it hangs with the bug, as the problem occurs before the call to exec_fn().

When I run this on macOS, either with the bug, or with the buggy line commented out, I get the same hang. When I interrupt it, I get
a separate traceback from each thread. Here's the full session:

Parent 78918
Parent 78919
Child 78918
Parent 78920
Child 78919
Parent 78921
Child 78920
Child 78921
  C-c C-cTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "tt.py", line 18, in <module>
    fut.result()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/concurrent/futures/_base.py", line 434, in result
    self._condition.wait(timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/threading.py", line 302, in wait
    waiter.acquire()
KeyboardInterrupt
Exception in worker
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 78, in _worker
    work_item = work_queue.get(block=True)
KeyboardInterrupt
Exception in worker
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 78, in _worker
    work_item = work_queue.get(block=True)
KeyboardInterrupt
Exception in worker
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 78, in _worker
    work_item = work_queue.get(block=True)
KeyboardInterrupt
Exception in worker
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 78, in _worker
    work_item = work_queue.get(block=True)
KeyboardInterrupt
Done 78918 78917
Done 78921 78917
Done 78919 78917
Done 78920 78917

(I added some prints to the script. Here's the script I ran:)

import os
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor

def new_process(arg):
    pid = os.fork()
    if pid == 0:
        print("Child", os.getpid())
        ## os.execl("/usr/bin/true", "/usr/bin/true")
    else:
        print("Parent", pid)
        pid, status = os.waitpid(pid, 0)
        print("Done", pid, os.getpid())

executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=4)
futures = [executor.submit(new_process, None)
           for i in range(0, 4)]
for fut in futures:
    fut.result()

When I uncomment the os.execl() line, the program runs and completes.

"When I uncomment the os.execl() line, the program runs and completes."

In that case I'm not sure it is the same issue. The child processes in your case executed their part of the new_process function, which then returned. Nevertheless from the trace it looks like none of the children exited. So you are not hitting the logging lock issue, but may be hitting a similar problem in another module.

Is the logging module always enabled, or does it depend on the environment?

The key is that os.execl() never returns.

My understanding is that the hang happens when the child code returns (or raises) in the forked child process, because the semaphore state is cloned by the fork.

There is no logging here. I just added some print() calls. (See the script I posted.)

OK, but that's not the problem I see. The parent calls fork(), creates a child that then runs the atfork() handlers *before* returning from the os.fork() call (which is the expected behaviour). At least one of those atfork() handlers is the one registered by the logging module (Lib/logging/init.py) and that one attempts to acquire a lock. So in my case the child never gets to the point of calling exec(), which is why I didn't notice the bug in the script.

And you're sure that your "toy" example hangs in the at-fork handler.

In that case I can't help you further, I don't have the resources or time to try out QNX. Your best bet is indeed to change distutils.spawn to not use fork+exec -- do you think you can come up with a PR for that?

As sure as I can be given my limited experience debugging Python... Luckily I do know my way around the QNX kernel ;-)

The stack trace for the child shows it stuck on a semaphore with a count value of 0. A print in the logging module shows that the child gets to the _acquireLock() call on line 245 of logging/init.py but a print after that line is never displayed. I am basing my analysis on the combination of the two observations.

I'll try to come up with a change to distutils.spawn, as well as a change to subprocess to use posix_spawn().

Stack trace:
#0 SyncSemWait () at /builds/workspace/710-SDP/build_x86_64/lib/c/kercalls/x86_64/SyncSemWait.S:37
#1 0x000000267938bac6 in PyThread_acquire_lock_timed (lock=lock@entry=0x3bcde5a430, microseconds=microseconds@entry=-1000000,
intr_flag=intr_flag@entry=1) at Python/thread_pthread.h:459
#2 0x00000026793de7bd in acquire_timed (lock=0x3bcde5a430, timeout=-1000000000) at ./Modules/_threadmodule.c:63
#3 0x00000026793de8e7 in rlock_acquire (self=0x3bce057c90, args=<optimized out>, kwds=<optimized out>) at ./Modules/_threadmodule.c:308
#4 0x000000267941b631 in method_vectorcall_VARARGS_KEYWORDS (func=0x3bcdee2ef0, args=0x3bce1ad4d0, nargsf=<optimized out>, kwnames=<optimized out>)
at Objects/descrobject.c:332
#5 0x0000002679285ff6 in _PyObject_Vectorcall (kwnames=<optimized out>, nargsf=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, callable=<optimized out>)
at ./Include/cpython/abstract.h:123
#6 call_function (kwnames=0x0, oparg=1, pp_stack=<synthetic pointer>, tstate=0x3bcdea9040) at Python/ceval.c:4987
#7 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=<optimized out>, throwflag=<optimized out>) at Python/ceval.c:3486
#8 0x000000267928395b in function_code_fastcall (co=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, nargs=0, globals=<optimized out>) at Objects/call.c:283
#9 0x0000002679285d29 in _PyObject_Vectorcall (kwnames=<optimized out>, nargsf=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, callable=<optimized out>)
at ./Include/cpython/abstract.h:127
#10 call_function (kwnames=0x0, oparg=<optimized out>, pp_stack=<synthetic pointer>, tstate=0x3bcdea9040) at Python/ceval.c:4987
#11 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=<optimized out>, throwflag=<optimized out>) at Python/ceval.c:3500
#12 0x000000267928395b in function_code_fastcall (co=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, nargs=1, globals=<optimized out>) at Objects/call.c:283
#13 0x0000002679285d29 in _PyObject_Vectorcall (kwnames=<optimized out>, nargsf=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, callable=<optimized out>)
at ./Include/cpython/abstract.h:127
#14 call_function (kwnames=0x0, oparg=<optimized out>, pp_stack=<synthetic pointer>, tstate=0x3bcdea9040) at Python/ceval.c:4987
#15 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=<optimized out>, throwflag=<optimized out>) at Python/ceval.c:3500
#16 0x000000267928395b in function_code_fastcall (co=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, nargs=1, globals=<optimized out>) at Objects/call.c:283
#17 0x0000002679285ff6 in _PyObject_Vectorcall (kwnames=<optimized out>, nargsf=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, callable=<optimized out>)
at ./Include/cpython/abstract.h:123
#18 call_function (kwnames=0x0, oparg=1, pp_stack=<synthetic pointer>, tstate=0x3bcdea9040) at Python/ceval.c:4987
#19 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=<optimized out>, throwflag=<optimized out>) at Python/ceval.c:3486
#20 0x000000267928395b in function_code_fastcall (co=<optimized out>, args=<optimized out>, nargs=0, globals=<optimized out>) at Objects/call.c:283
#21 0x000000267929d26a in _PyObject_FastCallDict (callable=0x3bce1bd160, args=<optimized out>, nargsf=<optimized out>, kwargs=<optimized out>)
at Objects/call.c:96
#22 0x00000026793a0584 in run_at_forkers (lst=<optimized out>, reverse=<optimized out>) at ./Modules/posixmodule.c:435
#23 0x00000026793abbfb in run_at_forkers (reverse=0, lst=<optimized out>) at ./Modules/posixmodule.c:420
#24 PyOS_AfterFork_Child () at ./Modules/posixmodule.c:474
#25 0x00000026793abd08 in os_fork_impl (module=<optimized out>) at ./Modules/posixmodule.c:6082

I may be missing something, but subprocess depends on _posixsubprocess, which doesn't get built until setup.py is run, which results in a circular dependency.

Note the original problem stems when you using "setup.py -j <NJOBS>".

setup.py doesn't use multiprocessing. multiprocessing is super complex. Would it be possible to write a reproducer which doesn't use multiprocessing?

Stack trace: (...)

Can you try to get the Python traceback? Try py-bt command in gdb, or attempt to use faulthandler.dump_traceback_later().

"setup.py doesn't use multiprocessing. multiprocessing is super complex. Would it be possible to write a reproducer which doesn't use multiprocessing?"

But the problem is with the handling of fork() by Python modules, and specifically with multi-threaded fork()s. Without multiple processes there is no issue.

And setup.py does use use multiple processes via a thread pool, where each thread calls fork(), if it detects that "make" was invoked with the parallel (-j) option.

@elad:

I'm not convinced that a multi-threaded fork()+exec() from C would be any better, unless the Python code goes to great lengths to avoid any non-async-signal-safe operations between the fork() and the exec().

That's exactly what the C code in the C subprocess module for POSIX does, though:

https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/master/Modules/_posixsubprocess.c#L828-L854

That's why I hope that using subprocess instead of a fork()+exec() sequence naively coded in pure Python would solve the issue.

@guido:

I can sort of see why you consider the small example a red herring, since it mixes threads and fork

Perhaps "red herring" was the wrong expression. What I mean is that it's no surprise that fork()+exec() sequence written in pure Python would be unsafe in multi-thread settings. The solution, though, is not to avoid threads or try to workaround the issue in ThreadPoolExecutor, but rather to avoid doing fork()+exec() in pure Python.

And setup.py does use use multiple processes via a thread pool, where each thread calls fork(), if it detects that "make" was invoked with the parallel (-j) option.

Oh ok, now I get it :-) setup.py uses distutils to build extensions and distutils.command.build_ext uses concurrent.futures for parallelism:

        if self.parallel:
            self._build_extensions_parallel()
        else:
            self._build_extensions_serial()

with:

    def _build_extensions_parallel(self):
        workers = self.parallel
        if self.parallel is True:
            workers = os.cpu_count()  # may return None
        try:
            from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
        except ImportError:
            workers = None

        if workers is None:
            self._build_extensions_serial()
            return

        with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=workers) as executor:
            futures = [executor.submit(self.build_extension, ext)
                       for ext in self.extensions]
            for ext, fut in zip(self.extensions, futures):
                with self._filter_build_errors(ext):
                    fut.result()

The problem is not concurrent.futures but the job submitted to the executor: build_extension() uses distutils.spawn() which is unsafe.

distutils.spawn() is the root issue if I understood correctly. It must be rewritten with subprocess.

I wrote PR 18743 to reimplement distutils.spawn.spawn() function with the subprocess module.

It also changes setup.py to use a basic implementation of the subprocess module if the subprocess module is not available: before required C extension modules are built.

Attached fork_mt.py example uses exec_fn() function... which is not defined. Is it on purpose?

"Attached fork_mt.py example uses exec_fn() function... which is not defined. Is it on purpose?"

That was my mistake - a copy/paste of existing code from distutils. Since the example hangs before the script gets to exec_fn() I didn't notice the problem. Just change it to os.execl

New changeset 1ec63b6 by Victor Stinner in branch 'master':
bpo-39763: distutils.spawn now uses subprocess (GH-18743)
1ec63b6

New changeset 00c77ae by Victor Stinner in branch 'master':
bpo-39763: Refactor setup.py (GH-18778)
00c77ae

The PR for 3.9 breaks AIX build (since https://buildbot.python.org/all/#/builders/119/builds/384) reporting the following:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/data/prj/python/python3-3.9/../git/python3-3.9/setup.py", line 69, in <module>
    from distutils.command.build_ext import build_ext
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/distutils/command/build_ext.py", line 33, in <module>
    class build_ext(Command):
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/distutils/command/build_ext.py", line 63, in build_ext
    "(default: %s)" % get_platform()),
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/distutils/util.py", line 107, in get_platform
    return get_host_platform()
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/distutils/util.py", line 83, in get_host_platform
    return aix_platform()
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/_aix_support.py", line 83, in aix_platform
    vrmf, bd = _aix_bosmp64()
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/_aix_support.py", line 53, in _aix_bosmp64
    out = subprocess.check_output(["/usr/bin/lslpp", "-Lqc", "bos.mp64"])
AttributeError: module 'subprocess' has no attribute 'check_output'

Will post a PR for this.

The cause:
Briefly, due to the addition of an importable subprocess must now test specifically for check_output during the early build process.

AttributeError: module 'subprocess' has no attribute 'check_output'

I wrote PR 18872 to implement it for setup.py.

Michael Felt: Can you please test it on AIX?

Almost. The command is run, but not enough of the bootstrap is finished - it seems.

File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/_aix_support.py", line 54, in _aix_bosmp64
out = out.decode("utf-8").strip().split(":") # type: ignore
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'

Just skipping the subprocess bit (which is what the original does, waiting for better moments) is sufficient for the bootstrap phase.

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'

Oops, it should now be fixed by my second commit. Please retry PR 18872.

Comes further. The build finishes, but socket and asyncio are missing...

At least a build will proceed, and I can look into this new, perhaps unrelated issue re: socket later.

*** WARNING: renaming "_asyncio" since importing it failed: No module named '_socket'

New changeset addaaaa by Victor Stinner in branch 'master':
bpo-39763: Add _bootsubprocess to build Python on AIX (GH-18872)
addaaaa

At least a build will proceed, and I can look into this new, perhaps unrelated issue re: socket later.
*** WARNING: renaming "_asyncio" since importing it failed: No module named '_socket'

Do you see any error when the _socket module is built? Please open a new issue with full logs.

re: _socket - I'll start researching now, but it may still be related to this.

a) if it looks like related to this issue I'll add a some report here
b) in any case, as requested, I'll start a new issue - and leave it to you to decide to close that and continue here, or with the new issue.

OK. BEFORE I open a new issue, I am going to guess that something is wrong with finding _socket.so - because it exists, but "something" is not finding it.

Following modules built successfully but were removed because they could not be imported:^M
_asyncio ^M
^M
running build_scripts^M
copying and adjusting /data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Tools/scripts/pydoc3 -> build/scripts-3.9^M
copying and adjusting /data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Tools/scripts/idle3 -> build/scripts-3.9^M
copying and adjusting /data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Tools/scripts/2to3 -> build/scripts-3.9^M
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3 from 644 to 755^M
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/idle3 from 644 to 755^M
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/2to3 from 644 to 755^M
renaming build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3 to build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3.9^M
renaming build/scripts-3.9/idle3 to build/scripts-3.9/idle3.9^M
renaming build/scripts-3.9/2to3 to build/scripts-3.9/2to3-3.9^M
xlc_r -c -DNDEBUG -O -I/opt/include -O2 -qmaxmem=-1 -qarch=pwr5 -I../git/python3-3.9/Include/internal -IObjects -IInclude -IPython -I. -I../git/python3-3.9/Include -I/opt/include -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o Programs/_testembed.o ../git
/python3-3.9/Programs/_testembed.c^M
../git/python3-3.9/Modules/makexp_aix Modules/python.exp . libpython3.9.a; xlc_r /opt/lib/libintl.a -L/opt/lib -liconv -lexpat -Wl,-bE:Modules/python.exp -lld -o Programs/_testembed Programs/_testembed.o libpython3.9.so -lintl -l
dl -lm -lm ^M

NOTE: The module was built successfully, but not found.

root@x065:[/data/prj/python/python3-3.9]find . -name _socket.so
./build/lib.aix-5307-0747-32-3.9/_socket.so

I am confused.

The bot complains nearly immediately about missing _socket

Following modules built successfully but were removed because they could not be imported:
_asyncio                                                       
running build_scripts
copying and adjusting /home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Tools/scripts/pydoc3 -> build/scripts-3.9
copying and adjusting /home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Tools/scripts/idle3 -> build/scripts-3.9
copying and adjusting /home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Tools/scripts/2to3 -> build/scripts-3.9
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3 from 600 to 755
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/idle3 from 600 to 755
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/2to3 from 600 to 755
renaming build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3 to build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3.9
renaming build/scripts-3.9/idle3 to build/scripts-3.9/idle3.9
renaming build/scripts-3.9/2to3 to build/scripts-3.9/2to3-3.9
./python -E -c 'import sys ; from sysconfig import get_platform ; print("%s-%d.%d" % (get_platform(), *sys.version_info[:2]))' >platform
./python  ./Tools/scripts/run_tests.py -j 1 -u all -W --slowest --fail-env-changed --timeout=900 -j2 --junit-xml test-results.xml 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/./Tools/scripts/run_tests.py", line 12, in <module>
    import test.support
  File "/home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Lib/test/support/__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    import asyncio.events
  File "/home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Lib/asyncio/__init__.py", line 8, in <module>
    from .base_events import *
  File "/home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Lib/asyncio/base_events.py", line 23, in <module>
    import socket
  File "/home/shager/cpython-buildarea/3.x.edelsohn-aix-ppc64/build/Lib/socket.py", line 51, in <module>
    import _socket
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_socket'

while if I use my (now closed) pr18847 I do not get the results immediately - it starts the whole test series, and then fails - but not because _socket does not exist, instead:

0:00:48 [ 53/420/2] test_socket failed (30.4 sec) -- running: test_multiprocessing_fork (48.3 sec)
/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/test/test_socket.py:2557: RuntimeWarning: received malformed or improperly-truncated ancillary data
  result = sock.recvmsg(bufsize, *args)
/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/test/test_socket.py:2648: RuntimeWarning: received malformed or improperly-truncated ancillary data
  result = sock.recvmsg_into([buf], *args)
test test_socket failed -- Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Lib/test/test_socket.py", line 1481, in testGetaddrinfo
    self.assertEqual(socktype, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
AssertionError: 0 != <SocketKind.SOCK_STREAM: 1>

In short, stumped...

OK. BEFORE I open a new issue, I am going to guess that something is wrong with finding _socket.so - because it exists, but "something" is not finding it.

Did the build worked on AIX before the commit 1ec63b6 which changed distutils to use subprocess? Try commit dffe4c0 (parent of the other change).

This was already confirmed by both bots...

The last bot build that worked (and for both AIX bots) is: dffe4c0

The first build that failed (for both) is: 1ec63b6

See (pass) https://buildbot.python.org/all/#/builders/119/builds/383 and https://buildbot.python.org/all/#/builders/227/builds/369; fail https://buildbot.python.org/all/#/builders/119/builds/384
and https://buildbot.python.org/all/#/builders/227/builds/370

I'll checkout dffe4c0 to verify it still works successfully.

After a checkout the build finishes (successfully) with:
Python build finished successfully!
The necessary bits to build these optional modules were not found:
_gdbm _lzma _sqlite3
_tkinter _uuid readline
To find the necessary bits, look in setup.py in detect_modules() for the module's name.

The following modules found by detect_modules() in setup.py, have been
built by the Makefile instead, as configured by the Setup files:
_abc atexit pwd
time

running build_scripts
creating build/scripts-3.9
copying and adjusting /data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Tools/scripts/pydoc3 -> build/scripts-3.9
copying and adjusting /data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Tools/scripts/idle3 -> build/scripts-3.9
copying and adjusting /data/prj/python/git/python3-3.9/Tools/scripts/2to3 -> build/scripts-3.9
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3 from 644 to 755
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/idle3 from 644 to 755
changing mode of build/scripts-3.9/2to3 from 644 to 755
renaming build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3 to build/scripts-3.9/pydoc3.9
renaming build/scripts-3.9/idle3 to build/scripts-3.9/idle3.9
renaming build/scripts-3.9/2to3 to build/scripts-3.9/2to3-3.9
/opt/bin/install -c -m 644 ../git/python3-3.9/Tools/gdb/libpython.py python-gdb.py
xlc_r -c -DNDEBUG -O -I/opt/include -O2 -qmaxmem=-1 -qarch=pwr5 -I/opt/include -O2 -qmaxmem=-1 -qarch=pwr5 -I../git/python3-3.9/Include/internal -IObjects -IInclude -IPython -I. -I../git/python3-3.9/Include -I/opt/include -I/op
t/include -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o Programs/_testembed.o ../git/python3-3.9/Programs/testembed.c
../git/python3-3.9/Modules/makexp_aix Modules/python.exp . libpython3.9.a; xlc_r /opt/lib/libintl.a -L/opt/lib -liconv -lexpat /opt/lib/libintl.a -L/opt/lib -liconv -lexpat -Wl,-bE:Modules/python.exp -lld -o Programs/_testembed
Programs/_testembed.o libpython3.9.a -lintl -ldl -lm -lm
sed -e "s,@exename@,/opt/bin/python3.9," < ../git/python3-3.9/Misc/python-config.in >python-config.py
LC_ALL=C sed -e 's,\$(\([A-Za-z0-9]*\)),\$\{\1\},g' < Misc/python-config.sh >python-config

root@x065:[/data/prj/python/python3-3.9]./python
Python 3.9.0a4+ (tags/v3.9.0a4-59-gdffe4c0709-dirty:dffe4c0709, Mar 11 2020, 17:09:06) [C] on aix
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>

I created bpo-39936 "Python fails to build _asyncio on module on AIX" to debug the AIX build failure.

I've flagged bpo-41207 as a regression stemming from this effort.

The linked PRs and two follow-up issues have all been closed.

A