python / python/cpython

PEP-739 build-details generation is incorrect when cross-building

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build type-bug
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Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:

When doing cross-builds, the PEP-739 build-details.json gets generated using inconsistent data, some of which based on the build python, and some from the target platform python.

See for example the following gist:
https://gist.github.com/itamaro/8f23ebec2e142fd7480241b76c16c4e0

The gist contains the build-details.json generated for a 3.15 GIL-disabled build, using a 3.15 GIL-enabled build as the build-python.

Concretely:

cd ~/pybuild/python/main-default
./configure --with-pydebug
make -j

cd ~/pybuild/python/main-nogil
./configure --with-pydebug --disable-gil
make -j

# now use the GIL-enabled python to regenerate build-details.json for the nogil build
_PYTHON_PROJECT_BASE=. _PYTHON_SYSCONFIGDATA_NAME=_sysconfigdata_td_darwin_darwin _PYTHON_SYSCONFIGDATA_PATH=build/lib.macosx-14.5-arm64-3.15 ~/pybuild/python/main-default/python.exe -E Tools/build/generate-build-details.py /tmp/build-details.json

Some examples from the gist:

Incorrect - abi.flags is ["d"] instead of ["t", "d"]:

  "abi": {
    "flags": [
      "d"
    ]
  },

Correct - libpython.static has the correct SOABI, including t:

  "libpython": {
    "static": "/usr/local/lib/libpython3.15td.a"
  },

Incorrect - suffixes.extensions includes extensions for the GIL-enabled ABI:

    "extensions": [
      ".cpython-315d-darwin.so",
      ".cpython-315-darwin.so",
      ".abi3.so",
      ".so"
    ]

Notes

I used a "cross-build" on the same MacOS host here, with GIL enabled vs GIL disabled, because it was the easiest for a full end-to-end repro on a single machine.
The issue is more general though, as I originally observed it when generating build-info.json files for a MacOS-target runtime (both GIL enabled and disabled) using a Linux-GIL-enabled build-python. That setup is more involved, but the mixing is also more apparent, with some fields using "darwin" and other fields using "linux-gnu-x86_64" as the multiarch string.

CPython versions tested on:

CPython main branch, 3.15, 3.14

Operating systems tested on:

macOS, Linux

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with Tools/build/generate-build-details.py and reproduce the command from the issue using separate GIL-enabled and GIL-disabled builds. Compare the generated build-details.json fields against the target build, especially abi.flags, libpython.static, suffixes.extensions, and platform strings; done means the metadata consistently describes the target build rather than mixing build- and target-Python data.

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
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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