On 2008-03-03, Martin v. Löwis wrote:
> Martin v. Löwis added the comment:
> > What I find confusing is:
> >
> > Failed to find the necessary bits to build these modules:
> > <modules>
> > To find the necessary bits, look in setup.py in detect_modules() for the
> > module's name.
> >
> > I find it confusing because AFAIK if a module can't be built it usually
> > means that you should change the Modules/Setup file and not setup.py
> > itself. (My impression is that the message is aimed at Python developers
> > rather than Python users.)
>
> No, not at all. If you see that message, it usually means you are on
> a Linux system, and you have forgotten to install the header files
> for the library the module relies on. You need to look into setup.py
> to find out what those header files are, and install them. Changing
> Modules/Setup won't help at all, as you don't *have* the header
> files.

Then why isn't the message something like:

Failed to find the necessary bits to build these modules:
<modules>
To find the necessary bits, look in setup.py in detect_modules() for the
module's name and the header files it requires.

[snip]
> >> In any case, it is deliberate that db 4.6 is not supported - that
> >> release doesn't really work.
> >
> > OK. (But that is a pity since a lot of people use Fedora 8.)
>
> Please complain to Oracle.

I thought it was owned by Berkeley University... oh well.