This appears to be a regression between 3.8a3 and 3.8a4 -- though it may be intentional and I'm missing something?

I noticed this while packaging 3.8 for deadsnakes https://github.com/deadsnakes/python3.8

I've created a minimal reproduction:


$ git checkout v3.8.0a4 && git clean -fxfd && ./configure --enable-shared && make -j4 && ls *.so build/lib*/*sysconfigdata*

...

build/lib.linux-x86_64-3.8/_sysconfigdata__linux_x86_64-linux-gnu.py
libpython3.8.so
libpython3.so


$ git checkout v3.8.0a3 && git clean -fxfd && ./configure --enable-shared && make -j4 && ls *.so build/lib*/*sysconfigdata*

...


build/lib.linux-x86_64-3.8/_sysconfigdata_m_linux_x86_64-linux-gnu.py
libpython3.8m.so
libpython3.so


Notice how the abiflag in sysconfigdata in 3.8a3 is 'm' but in 3.8a4 it is ''

My WAG at the relevant patch is 8c3ecc6bacc8d0cd534f2b5b53ed962dd1368c7b