python / python/cpython

Should ./configure script alert of ALL missing packages that python needs before compiling?

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build type-feature
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:

I was installing python, and noticed that ./configure script does NOT alert about ALL missing packages that python needs before compiling. Shouldn't it WARN clearly about all missing packages that SSL module depends?

Sometimes the compiler throws a RED ERROR too fast in the scrolling terminal console but I saw it, it was a C header file missing. So I recompiled with attention to discover "what is this red thing (error)?" and was a header from libffi-dev that I had to install.

Is there a way that the compiler STOPS when a critical error occur at least ? I think using EXIT would be a good approach, as the error would be in the screen doing what I expected.

CPython versions tested on:

3.10

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by examining the ./configure checks related to the SSL module and the missing libffi-dev C header reported during compilation. Determine which required packages are currently detected and how compiler errors are handled. Done means the configure step clearly reports missing dependencies before compilation and critical errors do not disappear in terminal output.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
build-system
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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