3.Configure Python¶
3.1.Build Requirements¶
Features and minimum versions required to build CPython:
AC11 compiler.Optional C11featuresare not required.
On Windows, Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 or later is required.
Support forIEEE 754floating-point numbers andfloating-point Not-a-Number (NaN).
Support for threads.
OpenSSL 1.1.1 is the minimum version and OpenSSL 3.0.9 is the recommendedminimum version for the
ssl
andhashlib
extension modules.SQLite 3.15.2 for the
sqlite3
extension module.Tcl/Tk 8.5.12 for the
tkinter
module.Autoconf 2.71 and aclocal 1.16.5 are required to regenerate the
configure
script.
Changed in version 3.1:Tcl/Tk version 8.3.1 is now required.
Changed in version 3.5:On Windows, Visual Studio 2015 or later is now required.Tcl/Tk version 8.4 is now required.
Changed in version 3.6:Selected C99 features are now required, like<stdint.h>
andstaticinline
functions.
Changed in version 3.7:Thread support and OpenSSL 1.0.2 are now required.
Changed in version 3.10:OpenSSL 1.1.1 is now required.Require SQLite 3.7.15.
Changed in version 3.11:C11 compiler, IEEE 754 and NaN support are now required.On Windows, Visual Studio 2017 or later is required.Tcl/Tk version 8.5.12 is now required for thetkinter
module.
Changed in version 3.13:Autoconf 2.71, aclocal 1.16.5 and SQLite 3.15.2 are now required.
See alsoPEP 7 “Style Guide for C Code” andPEP 11 “CPython platformsupport”.
3.2.Generated files¶
To reduce build dependencies, Python source code contains multiple generatedfiles. Commands to regenerate all generated files:
makeregen-allmakeregen-stdlib-module-namesmakeregen-limited-abimakeregen-configure
TheMakefile.pre.in
file documents generated files, their inputs, and tools usedto regenerate them. Search forregen-*
make targets.
3.2.1.configure script¶
Themakeregen-configure
command regenerates theaclocal.m4
file andtheconfigure
script using theTools/build/regen-configure.sh
shellscript which uses an Ubuntu container to get the same tools versions and have areproducible output.
The container is optional, the following command can be run locally:
autoreconf-ivf-Werror
The generated files can change depending on the exactautoconf-archive
,aclocal
andpkg-config
versions.
3.3.Configure Options¶
List allconfigure
script options using:
./configure--help
See also theMisc/SpecialBuilds.txt
in the Python source distribution.
3.3.1.General Options¶
- --enable-loadable-sqlite-extensions¶
Support loadable extensions in the
_sqlite
extension module (defaultis no) of thesqlite3
module.See the
sqlite3.Connection.enable_load_extension()
method of thesqlite3
module.Added in version 3.6.
- --enable-big-digits=[15|30]¶
Define the size in bits of Python
int
digits: 15 or 30 bits.By default, the digit size is 30.
Define the
PYLONG_BITS_IN_DIGIT
to15
or30
.
- --with-suffix=SUFFIX¶
Set the Python executable suffix toSUFFIX.
The default suffix is
.exe
on Windows and macOS (python.exe
executable),.js
on Emscripten node,.html
on Emscripten browser,.wasm
on WASI, and an empty string on other platforms (python
executable).Changed in version 3.11:The default suffix on WASM platform is one of
.js
,.html
or.wasm
.
- --with-tzpath=<listofabsolutepathsseparatedbypathsep>¶
Select the default time zone search path for
zoneinfo.TZPATH
.See theCompile-time configuration of thezoneinfo
module.Default:
/usr/share/zoneinfo:/usr/lib/zoneinfo:/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo:/etc/zoneinfo
.See
os.pathsep
path separator.Added in version 3.9.
- --without-decimal-contextvar¶
Build the
_decimal
extension module using a thread-local context ratherthan a coroutine-local context (default), see thedecimal
module.See
decimal.HAVE_CONTEXTVAR
and thecontextvars
module.Added in version 3.9.
- --with-dbmliborder=<listofbackendnames>¶
Override order to check db backends for the
dbm
moduleA valid value is a colon (
:
) separated string with the backend names:ndbm
;gdbm
;bdb
.
- --without-c-locale-coercion¶
Disable C locale coercion to a UTF-8 based locale (enabled by default).
Don’t define the
PY_COERCE_C_LOCALE
macro.See
PYTHONCOERCECLOCALE
and thePEP 538.
- --without-freelists¶
Disable all freelists except the empty tuple singleton.
Added in version 3.11.
- --with-platlibdir=DIRNAME¶
Python library directory name (default is
lib
).Fedora and SuSE use
lib64
on 64-bit platforms.See
sys.platlibdir
.Added in version 3.9.
- --with-wheel-pkg-dir=PATH¶
Directory of wheel packages used by the
ensurepip
module(none by default).Some Linux distribution packaging policies recommend against bundlingdependencies. For example, Fedora installs wheel packages in the
/usr/share/python-wheels/
directory and don’t install theensurepip._bundled
package.Added in version 3.10.
- --with-pkg-config=[check|yes|no]¶
Whether configure should usepkg-config to detect builddependencies.
check
(default):pkg-config is optionalyes
:pkg-config is mandatoryno
: configure does not usepkg-config even when present
Added in version 3.11.
- --enable-pystats¶
Turn on internal Python performance statistics gathering.
By default, statistics gathering is off. Use
python3-Xpystats
commandor setPYTHONSTATS=1
environment variable to turn on statisticsgathering at Python startup.At Python exit, dump statistics if statistics gathering was on and notcleared.
Effects:
Add
-Xpystats
command line option.Add
PYTHONSTATS
environment variable.Define the
Py_STATS
macro.Add functions to the
sys
module:sys._stats_on()
: Turns on statistics gathering.sys._stats_off()
: Turns off statistics gathering.sys._stats_clear()
: Clears the statistics.sys._stats_dump()
: Dump statistics to file, and clears the statistics.
The statistics will be dumped to a arbitrary (probably unique) file in
/tmp/py_stats/
(Unix) orC:\temp\py_stats\
(Windows). If thatdirectory does not exist, results will be printed on stderr.Use
Tools/scripts/summarize_stats.py
to read the stats.Statistics:
Opcode:
Specialization: success, failure, hit, deferred, miss, deopt, failures;
Execution count;
Pair count.
Call:
Inlined Python calls;
PyEval calls;
Frames pushed;
Frame object created;
Eval calls: vector, generator, legacy, function VECTORCALL, build class,slot, function “ex”, API, method.
Object:
incref and decref;
interpreter incref and decref;
allocations: all, 512 bytes, 4 kiB, big;
free;
to/from free lists;
dictionary materialized/dematerialized;
type cache;
optimization attempts;
optimization traces created/executed;
uops executed.
Garbage collector:
Garbage collections;
Objects visited;
Objects collected.
Added in version 3.11.
- --disable-gil¶
Enablesexperimental support for running Python without theglobal interpreter lock (GIL): free threading build.
Defines the
Py_GIL_DISABLED
macro and adds"t"
tosys.abiflags
.SeeFree-threaded CPython for more detail.
Added in version 3.13.
- --enable-experimental-jit=[no|yes|yes-off|interpreter]¶
Indicate how to integrate theJIT compiler.
no
- build the interpreter without the JIT.yes
- build the interpreter with the JIT.yes-off
- build the interpreter with the JIT but disable it by default.interpreter
- build the interpreter without the JIT, but with the tier 2 enabled interpreter.
By convention,
--enable-experimental-jit
is a shorthand for--enable-experimental-jit=yes
.Note
When building CPython with JIT enabled, ensure that your system has Python 3.11 or later installed.
Added in version 3.13.
- PKG_CONFIG¶
Path to
pkg-config
utility.
- PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR¶
- PKG_CONFIG_PATH¶
pkg-config
options.
3.3.2.C compiler options¶
- CC¶
C compiler command.
- CFLAGS¶
C compiler flags.
- CPP¶
C preprocessor command.
- CPPFLAGS¶
C preprocessor flags, e.g.
-Iinclude_dir
.
3.3.3.Linker options¶
- LDFLAGS¶
Linker flags, e.g.
-Llibrary_directory
.
- LIBS¶
Libraries to pass to the linker, e.g.
-llibrary
.
- MACHDEP¶
Name for machine-dependent library files.
3.3.4.Options for third-party dependencies¶
Added in version 3.11.
- BZIP2_CFLAGS¶
- BZIP2_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags to link Python to
libbz2
, used bybz2
module, overridingpkg-config
.
- CURSES_CFLAGS¶
- CURSES_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for
libncurses
orlibncursesw
, used bycurses
module, overridingpkg-config
.
- GDBM_CFLAGS¶
- GDBM_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for
gdbm
.
- LIBB2_CFLAGS¶
- LIBB2_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for
libb2
(BLAKE2),used byhashlib
module, overridingpkg-config
.
- LIBEDIT_CFLAGS¶
- LIBFFI_CFLAGS¶
- LIBMPDEC_CFLAGS¶
- LIBMPDEC_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for
libmpdec
, used bydecimal
module,overridingpkg-config
.Note
These environment variables have no effect unless
--with-system-libmpdec
is specified.
- LIBLZMA_CFLAGS¶
- LIBREADLINE_CFLAGS¶
- LIBREADLINE_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for
libreadline
, used byreadline
module, overridingpkg-config
.
- LIBSQLITE3_CFLAGS¶
- LIBSQLITE3_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for
libsqlite3
, used bysqlite3
module, overridingpkg-config
.
- LIBUUID_CFLAGS¶
- PANEL_CFLAGS¶
- PANEL_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for PANEL, overriding
pkg-config
.C compiler and linker flags for
libpanel
orlibpanelw
, used bycurses.panel
module, overridingpkg-config
.
- TCLTK_CFLAGS¶
- TCLTK_LIBS¶
C compiler and linker flags for TCLTK, overriding
pkg-config
.
- ZLIB_CFLAGS¶
3.3.5.WebAssembly Options¶
- --with-emscripten-target=[browser|node]¶
Set build flavor for
wasm32-emscripten
.browser
(default): preload minimal stdlib, default MEMFS.node
: NODERAWFS and pthread support.
Added in version 3.11.
- --enable-wasm-dynamic-linking¶
Turn on dynamic linking support for WASM.
Dynamic linking enables
dlopen
. File size of the executableincreases due to limited dead code elimination and additional features.Added in version 3.11.
- --enable-wasm-pthreads¶
Turn on pthreads support for WASM.
Added in version 3.11.
3.3.6.Install Options¶
- --prefix=PREFIX¶
Install architecture-independent files in PREFIX. On Unix, itdefaults to
/usr/local
.This value can be retrieved at runtime using
sys.prefix
.As an example, one can use
--prefix="$HOME/.local/"
to installa Python in its home directory.
- --exec-prefix=EPREFIX¶
Install architecture-dependent files in EPREFIX, defaults to
--prefix
.This value can be retrieved at runtime using
sys.exec_prefix
.
3.3.7.Performance options¶
Configuring Python using--enable-optimizations--with-lto
(PGO + LTO) isrecommended for best performance. The experimental--enable-bolt
flag canalso be used to improve performance.
- --enable-optimizations¶
Enable Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) using
PROFILE_TASK
(disabled by default).The C compiler Clang requires
llvm-profdata
program for PGO. OnmacOS, GCC also requires it: GCC is just an alias to Clang on macOS.Disable also semantic interposition in libpython if
--enable-shared
andGCC is used: add-fno-semantic-interposition
to the compiler and linkerflags.Note
During the build, you may encounter compiler warnings aboutprofile data not being available for some source files.These warnings are harmless, as only a subset of the code is exercisedduring profile data acquisition.To disable these warnings on Clang, manually suppress them by adding
-Wno-profile-instr-unprofiled
toCFLAGS
.Added in version 3.6.
Changed in version 3.10:Use
-fno-semantic-interposition
on GCC.
- PROFILE_TASK¶
Environment variable used in the Makefile: Python command line arguments forthe PGO generation task.
Default:
-mtest--pgo--timeout=$(TESTTIMEOUT)
.Added in version 3.8.
Changed in version 3.13:Task failure is no longer ignored silently.
- --with-lto=[full|thin|no|yes]¶
Enable Link Time Optimization (LTO) in any build (disabled by default).
The C compiler Clang requires
llvm-ar
for LTO (ar
on macOS), as wellas an LTO-aware linker (ld.gold
orlld
).Added in version 3.6.
Added in version 3.11:To use ThinLTO feature, use
--with-lto=thin
on Clang.Changed in version 3.12:Use ThinLTO as the default optimization policy on Clang if the compiler accepts the flag.
- --enable-bolt¶
Enable usage of theBOLT post-link binary optimizer (disabled bydefault).
BOLT is part of the LLVM project but is not always included in their binarydistributions. This flag requires that
llvm-bolt
andmerge-fdata
are available.BOLT is still a fairly new project so this flag should be consideredexperimental for now. Because this tool operates on machine code its successis dependent on a combination of the build environment + the otheroptimization configure args + the CPU architecture, and not all combinationsare supported.BOLT versions before LLVM 16 are known to crash BOLT under some scenarios.Use of LLVM 16 or newer for BOLT optimization is strongly encouraged.
The
BOLT_INSTRUMENT_FLAGS
andBOLT_APPLY_FLAGS
configure variables can be defined to override the default set ofarguments forllvm-bolt to instrument and apply BOLT data tobinaries, respectively.Added in version 3.12.
- BOLT_APPLY_FLAGS¶
Arguments to
llvm-bolt
when creating aBOLT optimized binary.Added in version 3.12.
- BOLT_INSTRUMENT_FLAGS¶
Arguments to
llvm-bolt
when instrumenting binaries.Added in version 3.12.
- --with-computed-gotos¶
Enable computed gotos in evaluation loop (enabled by default on supportedcompilers).
- --without-mimalloc¶
Disable the fastmimalloc allocator(enabled by default).
See also
PYTHONMALLOC
environment variable.
- --without-pymalloc¶
Disable the specialized Python memory allocatorpymalloc(enabled by default).
See also
PYTHONMALLOC
environment variable.
- --without-doc-strings¶
Disable static documentation strings to reduce the memory footprint (enabledby default). Documentation strings defined in Python are not affected.
Don’t define the
WITH_DOC_STRINGS
macro.See the
PyDoc_STRVAR()
macro.
- --enable-profiling¶
Enable C-level code profiling with
gprof
(disabled by default).
- --with-strict-overflow¶
Add
-fstrict-overflow
to the C compiler flags (by default we add-fno-strict-overflow
instead).
3.3.8.Python Debug Build¶
A debug build is Python built with the--with-pydebug
configureoption.
Effects of a debug build:
Display all warnings by default: the list of default warning filters is emptyin the
warnings
module.Add
d
tosys.abiflags
.Add
sys.gettotalrefcount()
function.Add
-Xshowrefcount
command line option.Add
-d
command line option andPYTHONDEBUG
environmentvariable to debug the parser.Add support for the
__lltrace__
variable: enable low-level tracing in thebytecode evaluation loop if the variable is defined.Installdebug hooks on memory allocatorsto detect buffer overflow and other memory errors.
Define
Py_DEBUG
andPy_REF_DEBUG
macros.Add runtime checks: code surrounded by
#ifdefPy_DEBUG
and#endif
.Enableassert(...)
and_PyObject_ASSERT(...)
assertions: don’t settheNDEBUG
macro (see also the--with-assertions
configureoption). Main runtime checks:Add sanity checks on the function arguments.
Unicode and int objects are created with their memory filled with a patternto detect usage of uninitialized objects.
Ensure that functions which can clear or replace the current exception arenot called with an exception raised.
Check that deallocator functions don’t change the current exception.
The garbage collector (
gc.collect()
function) runs some basic checkson objects consistency.The
Py_SAFE_DOWNCAST()
macro checks for integer underflow andoverflow when downcasting from wide types to narrow types.
See also thePython Development Mode and the--with-trace-refs
configure option.
Changed in version 3.8:Release builds and debug builds are now ABI compatible: defining thePy_DEBUG
macro no longer implies thePy_TRACE_REFS
macro (see the--with-trace-refs
option).
3.3.9.Debug options¶
- --with-pydebug¶
Build Python in debug mode: define the
Py_DEBUG
macro (disabled by default).
- --with-trace-refs¶
Enable tracing references for debugging purpose (disabled by default).
Effects:
Define the
Py_TRACE_REFS
macro.Add
sys.getobjects()
function.Add
PYTHONDUMPREFS
environment variable.
The
PYTHONDUMPREFS
environment variable can be used to dumpobjects and reference counts still alive at Python exit.Statically allocated objects are not traced.
Added in version 3.8.
Changed in version 3.13:This build is now ABI compatible with release build anddebug build.
- --with-assertions¶
Build with C assertions enabled (default is no):
assert(...);
and_PyObject_ASSERT(...);
.If set, the
NDEBUG
macro is not defined in theOPT
compilervariable.See also the
--with-pydebug
option (debug build) which also enables assertions.Added in version 3.6.
- --with-valgrind¶
Enable Valgrind support (default is no).
- --with-dtrace¶
Enable DTrace support (default is no).
SeeInstrumenting CPython with DTrace and SystemTap.
Added in version 3.6.
- --with-address-sanitizer¶
Enable AddressSanitizer memory error detector,
asan
(default is no).Added in version 3.6.
- --with-memory-sanitizer¶
Enable MemorySanitizer allocation error detector,
msan
(default is no).Added in version 3.6.
- --with-undefined-behavior-sanitizer¶
Enable UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer undefined behaviour detector,
ubsan
(default is no).Added in version 3.6.
- --with-thread-sanitizer¶
Enable ThreadSanitizer data race detector,
tsan
(default is no).Added in version 3.13.
3.3.10.Linker options¶
- --enable-shared¶
Enable building a shared Python library:
libpython
(default is no).
- --without-static-libpython¶
Do not build
libpythonMAJOR.MINOR.a
and do not installpython.o
(built and enabled by default).Added in version 3.10.
3.3.11.Libraries options¶
- --with-libs='lib1...'¶
Link against additional libraries (default is no).
- --with-system-expat¶
Build the
pyexpat
module using an installedexpat
library(default is no).
- --with-system-libmpdec¶
Build the
_decimal
extension module using an installedmpdecimal
library, see thedecimal
module (default is yes).Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.13:Default to using the installed
mpdecimal
library.Deprecated since version 3.13, will be removed in version 3.15:A copy of the
mpdecimal
library sources will no longer be distributedwith Python 3.15.See also
- --with-readline=readline|editline¶
Designate a backend library for the
readline
module.readline: Use readline as the backend.
editline: Use editline as the backend.
Added in version 3.10.
- --without-readline¶
Don’t build the
readline
module (built by default).Don’t define the
HAVE_LIBREADLINE
macro.Added in version 3.10.
- --with-libm=STRING¶
Override
libm
math library toSTRING (default is system-dependent).
- --with-libc=STRING¶
Override
libc
C library toSTRING (default is system-dependent).
- --with-openssl=DIR¶
Root of the OpenSSL directory.
Added in version 3.7.
- --with-openssl-rpath=[no|auto|DIR]¶
Set runtime library directory (rpath) for OpenSSL libraries:
no
(default): don’t set rpath;auto
: auto-detect rpath from--with-openssl
andpkg-config
;DIR: set an explicit rpath.
Added in version 3.10.
3.3.12.Security Options¶
- --with-hash-algorithm=[fnv|siphash13|siphash24]¶
Select hash algorithm for use in
Python/pyhash.c
:siphash13
(default);siphash24
;fnv
.
Added in version 3.4.
Added in version 3.11:
siphash13
is added and it is the new default.
- --with-builtin-hashlib-hashes=md5,sha1,sha256,sha512,sha3,blake2¶
Built-in hash modules:
md5
;sha1
;sha256
;sha512
;sha3
(with shake);blake2
.
Added in version 3.9.
- --with-ssl-default-suites=[python|openssl|STRING]¶
Override the OpenSSL default cipher suites string:
python
(default): use Python’s preferred selection;openssl
: leave OpenSSL’s defaults untouched;STRING: use a custom string
See the
ssl
module.Added in version 3.7.
Changed in version 3.10:The settings
python
andSTRING also set TLS 1.2 as minimumprotocol version.
3.3.13.macOS Options¶
SeeMac/README.rst.
- --enable-universalsdk¶
- --enable-universalsdk=SDKDIR¶
Create a universal binary build.SDKDIR specifies which macOS SDK shouldbe used to perform the build (default is no).
- --enable-framework¶
- --enable-framework=INSTALLDIR¶
Create a Python.framework rather than a traditional Unix install. OptionalINSTALLDIR specifies the installation path (default is no).
- --with-universal-archs=ARCH¶
Specify the kind of universal binary that should be created. This option isonly valid when
--enable-universalsdk
is set.Options:
universal2
(x86-64 and arm64);32-bit
(PPC and i386);64-bit
(PPC64 and x86-64);3-way
(i386, PPC and x86-64);intel
(i386 and x86-64);intel-32
(i386);intel-64
(x86-64);all
(PPC, i386, PPC64 and x86-64).
Note that values for this configuration item arenot the same as theidentifiers used for universal binary wheels on macOS. See the PythonPackaging User Guide for details on thepackaging platform compatibilitytags used on macOS
- --with-framework-name=FRAMEWORK¶
Specify the name for the python framework on macOS only valid when
--enable-framework
is set (default:Python
).
- --with-app-store-compliance¶
- --with-app-store-compliance=PATCH-FILE¶
The Python standard library contains strings that are known to triggerautomated inspection tool errors when submitted for distribution bythe macOS and iOS App Stores. If enabled, this option will apply the list ofpatches that are known to correct app store compliance. A custom patchfile can also be specified. This option is disabled by default.
Added in version 3.13.
3.3.14.iOS Options¶
SeeiOS/README.rst.
- --enable-framework=INSTALLDIR¶
Create a Python.framework. Unlike macOS, theINSTALLDIR argumentspecifying the installation path is mandatory.
- --with-framework-name=FRAMEWORK¶
Specify the name for the framework (default:
Python
).
3.3.15.Cross Compiling Options¶
Cross compiling, also known as cross building, can be used to build Pythonfor another CPU architecture or platform. Cross compiling requires a Pythoninterpreter for the build platform. The version of the build Python must matchthe version of the cross compiled host Python.
- --build=BUILD¶
configure for building on BUILD, usually guessed byconfig.guess.
- --host=HOST¶
cross-compile to build programs to run on HOST (target platform)
- --with-build-python=path/to/python¶
path to build
python
binary for cross compilingAdded in version 3.11.
- CONFIG_SITE=file¶
An environment variable that points to a file with configure overrides.
Exampleconfig.site file:
# config.site-aarch64ac_cv_buggy_getaddrinfo=noac_cv_file__dev_ptmx=yesac_cv_file__dev_ptc=no
- HOSTRUNNER¶
Program to run CPython for the host platform for cross-compilation.
Added in version 3.11.
Cross compiling example:
CONFIG_SITE=config.site-aarch64../configure\--build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu\--host=aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu\--with-build-python=../x86_64/python
3.4.Python Build System¶
3.4.1.Main files of the build system¶
configure.ac
=>configure
;Makefile.pre.in
=>Makefile
(created byconfigure
);pyconfig.h
(created byconfigure
);Modules/Setup
: C extensions built by the Makefile usingModule/makesetup
shell script;
3.4.2.Main build steps¶
C files (
.c
) are built as object files (.o
).A static
libpython
library (.a
) is created from objects files.python.o
and the staticlibpython
library are linked into thefinalpython
program.C extensions are built by the Makefile (see
Modules/Setup
).
3.4.3.Main Makefile targets¶
3.4.3.1.make¶
For the most part, when rebuilding after editing some code orrefreshing your checkout from upstream, all you need to do is executemake
, which (per Make’s semantics) builds the default target, thefirst one defined in the Makefile. By tradition (including in theCPython project) this is usually theall
target. Theconfigure
script expands anautoconf
variable,@DEF_MAKE_ALL_RULE@
to describe precisely which targetsmakeall
will build. The three choices are:
profile-opt
(configured with--enable-optimizations
)build_wasm
(configured with--with-emscripten-target
)build_all
(configured without explicitly using either of the others)
Depending on the most recent source file changes, Make will rebuildany targets (object files and executables) deemed out-of-date,including runningconfigure
again if necessary. Source/targetdependencies are many and maintained manually however, so Makesometimes doesn’t have all the information necessary to correctlydetect all targets which need to be rebuilt. Depending on whichtargets aren’t rebuilt, you might experience a number of problems. Ifyou have build or test problems which you can’t otherwise explain,makeclean&&make
should work around most dependency problems, atthe expense of longer build times.
3.4.3.2.make platform¶
Build thepython
program, but don’t build the standard libraryextension modules. This generates a file namedplatform
whichcontains a single line describing the details of the build platform,e.g.,macosx-14.3-arm64-3.12
orlinux-x86_64-3.13
.
3.4.3.3.make profile-opt¶
Build Python using profile-guided optimization (PGO). You can use theconfigure--enable-optimizations
option to make this thedefault target of themake
command (makeall
or justmake
).
3.4.3.4.make clean¶
Remove built files.
3.4.3.5.make distclean¶
In addition to the work done bymakeclean
, remove filescreated by the configure script.configure
will have to be runbefore building again.[1]
3.4.3.6.make install¶
Build theall
target and install Python.
3.4.3.7.make test¶
Build theall
target and run the Python test suite with the--fast-ci
option. Variables:
TESTOPTS
: additional regrtest command-line options.TESTPYTHONOPTS
: additional Python command-line options.TESTTIMEOUT
: timeout in seconds (default: 10 minutes).
3.4.3.8.make buildbottest¶
This is similar tomaketest
, but uses the--slow-ci
option and default timeout of 20 minutes, instead of--fast-ci
option.
3.4.3.9.make regen-all¶
Regenerate (almost) all generated files. These include (but are notlimited to) bytecode cases, and parser generator file.makeregen-stdlib-module-names
andautoconf
must be runseparately for the remaininggenerated files.
3.4.4.C extensions¶
Some C extensions are built as built-in modules, like thesys
module.They are built with thePy_BUILD_CORE_BUILTIN
macro defined.Built-in modules have no__file__
attribute:
>>>importsys>>>sys<module 'sys' (built-in)>>>>sys.__file__Traceback (most recent call last): File"<stdin>", line1, in<module>AttributeError:module 'sys' has no attribute '__file__'
Other C extensions are built as dynamic libraries, like the_asyncio
module.They are built with thePy_BUILD_CORE_MODULE
macro defined.Example on Linux x86-64:
>>>import_asyncio>>>_asyncio<module '_asyncio' from '/usr/lib64/python3.9/lib-dynload/_asyncio.cpython-39-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'>>>>_asyncio.__file__'/usr/lib64/python3.9/lib-dynload/_asyncio.cpython-39-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
Modules/Setup
is used to generate Makefile targets to build C extensions.At the beginning of the files, C extensions are built as built-in modules.Extensions defined after the*shared*
marker are built as dynamic libraries.
ThePyAPI_FUNC()
,PyAPI_DATA()
andPyMODINIT_FUNC
macros ofInclude/exports.h
are defineddifferently depending if thePy_BUILD_CORE_MODULE
macro is defined:
Use
Py_EXPORTED_SYMBOL
if thePy_BUILD_CORE_MODULE
is definedUse
Py_IMPORTED_SYMBOL
otherwise.
If thePy_BUILD_CORE_BUILTIN
macro is used by mistake on a C extensionbuilt as a shared library, itsPyInit_xxx()
function is not exported,causing anImportError
on import.
3.5.Compiler and linker flags¶
Options set by the./configure
script and environment variables and used byMakefile
.
3.5.1.Preprocessor flags¶
- CPPFLAGS¶
(Objective) C/C++ preprocessor flags, e.g.
-Iinclude_dir
if you haveheaders in a nonstandard directoryinclude_dir.Both
CPPFLAGS
andLDFLAGS
need to contain the shell’svalue to be able to build extension modules using thedirectories specified in the environment variables.
- BASECPPFLAGS¶
Added in version 3.4.
- PY_CPPFLAGS¶
Extra preprocessor flags added for building the interpreter object files.
Default:
$(BASECPPFLAGS)-I.-I$(srcdir)/Include$(CONFIGURE_CPPFLAGS)$(CPPFLAGS)
.Added in version 3.2.
3.5.2.Compiler flags¶
- CC¶
C compiler command.
Example:
gcc-pthread
.
- CXX¶
C++ compiler command.
Example:
g++-pthread
.
- CFLAGS¶
C compiler flags.
- CFLAGS_NODIST¶
CFLAGS_NODIST
is used for building the interpreter and stdlib Cextensions. Use it when a compiler flag shouldnot be part ofCFLAGS
once Python is installed (gh-65320).In particular,
CFLAGS
should not contain:the compiler flag
-I
(for setting the search path for include files).The-I
flags are processed from left to right, and any flags inCFLAGS
would take precedence over user- and package-supplied-I
flags.hardening flags such as
-Werror
because distributions cannot controlwhether packages installed by users conform to such heightenedstandards.
Added in version 3.5.
- COMPILEALL_OPTS¶
Options passed to the
compileall
command line when building PYC filesinmakeinstall
. Default:-j0
.Added in version 3.12.
- EXTRA_CFLAGS¶
Extra C compiler flags.
- CONFIGURE_CFLAGS_NODIST¶
Value of
CFLAGS_NODIST
variable passed to the./configure
script.Added in version 3.5.
- BASECFLAGS¶
Base compiler flags.
- OPT¶
Optimization flags.
- CFLAGS_ALIASING¶
Strict or non-strict aliasing flags used to compile
Python/dtoa.c
.Added in version 3.7.
- CCSHARED¶
Compiler flags used to build a shared library.
For example,
-fPIC
is used on Linux and on BSD.
- CFLAGSFORSHARED¶
Extra C flags added for building the interpreter object files.
Default:
$(CCSHARED)
when--enable-shared
is used, or an emptystring otherwise.
- PY_CFLAGS¶
Default:
$(BASECFLAGS)$(OPT)$(CONFIGURE_CFLAGS)$(CFLAGS)$(EXTRA_CFLAGS)
.
- PY_CFLAGS_NODIST¶
Default:
$(CONFIGURE_CFLAGS_NODIST)$(CFLAGS_NODIST)-I$(srcdir)/Include/internal
.Added in version 3.5.
- PY_STDMODULE_CFLAGS¶
C flags used for building the interpreter object files.
Default:
$(PY_CFLAGS)$(PY_CFLAGS_NODIST)$(PY_CPPFLAGS)$(CFLAGSFORSHARED)
.Added in version 3.7.
- PY_CORE_CFLAGS¶
Default:
$(PY_STDMODULE_CFLAGS)-DPy_BUILD_CORE
.Added in version 3.2.
- PY_BUILTIN_MODULE_CFLAGS¶
Compiler flags to build a standard library extension module as a built-inmodule, like the
posix
module.Default:
$(PY_STDMODULE_CFLAGS)-DPy_BUILD_CORE_BUILTIN
.Added in version 3.8.
- PURIFY¶
Purify command. Purify is a memory debugger program.
Default: empty string (not used).
3.5.3.Linker flags¶
- LINKCC¶
Linker command used to build programs like
python
and_testembed
.Default:
$(PURIFY)$(CC)
.
- CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS¶
Value of
LDFLAGS
variable passed to the./configure
script.Avoid assigning
CFLAGS
,LDFLAGS
, etc. so users can usethem on the command line to append to these values without stomping thepre-set values.Added in version 3.2.
- LDFLAGS_NODIST¶
LDFLAGS_NODIST
is used in the same manner asCFLAGS_NODIST
. Use it when a linker flag shouldnot be part ofLDFLAGS
once Python is installed (gh-65320).In particular,
LDFLAGS
should not contain:the compiler flag
-L
(for setting the search path for libraries).The-L
flags are processed from left to right, and any flags inLDFLAGS
would take precedence over user- and package-supplied-L
flags.
- CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS_NODIST¶
Value of
LDFLAGS_NODIST
variable passed to the./configure
script.Added in version 3.8.
- LDFLAGS¶
Linker flags, e.g.
-Llib_dir
if you have libraries in a nonstandarddirectorylib_dir.Both
CPPFLAGS
andLDFLAGS
need to contain the shell’svalue to be able to build extension modules using thedirectories specified in the environment variables.
- LIBS¶
Linker flags to pass libraries to the linker when linking the Pythonexecutable.
Example:
-lrt
.
- LDSHARED¶
Command to build a shared library.
Default:
@LDSHARED@$(PY_LDFLAGS)
.
- BLDSHARED¶
Command to build
libpython
shared library.Default:
@BLDSHARED@$(PY_CORE_LDFLAGS)
.
- PY_LDFLAGS¶
Default:
$(CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS)$(LDFLAGS)
.
- PY_LDFLAGS_NODIST¶
Default:
$(CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS_NODIST)$(LDFLAGS_NODIST)
.Added in version 3.8.
- PY_CORE_LDFLAGS¶
Linker flags used for building the interpreter object files.
Added in version 3.8.
Footnotes
[1]gitclean-fdx
is an even more extreme way to “clean” yourcheckout. It removes all files not known to Git.When bug hunting usinggitbisect
, this isrecommended between probesto guarantee a completely clean build.Use with care, as itwill delete all files not checked into Git, including yournew, uncommitted work.