Installing Python 3.3 on Cygwin

Question

I'm having trouble installing Python 3.3 on Cygwin. I've tried installing from source, but make returns:

gcc -Wno-unused-result -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes     -I. -IInclude -I./Include    -DPy_BUILD_CORE  -c ./Modules/signalmodule.c -o Modules/signalmodule.o
In file included from Include/Python.h:84:0,
                 from ./Modules/signalmodule.c:6:
./Modules/signalmodule.c: In function `fill_siginfo':
./Modules/signalmodule.c:745:60: error: `siginfo_t' has no member named `si_band'
     PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM(result, 6, PyLong_FromLong(si->si_band));
                                                            ^
Include/tupleobject.h:62:75: note: in definition of macro `PyTuple_SET_ITEM'
 #define PyTuple_SET_ITEM(op, i, v) (((PyTupleObject *)(op))->ob_item[i] = v)
                                                                           ^
./Modules/signalmodule.c:745:5: note: in expansion of macro `PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM'
     PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM(result, 6, PyLong_FromLong(si->si_band));
     ^
Makefile:1501: recipe for target `Modules/signalmodule.o' failed
make: *** [Modules/signalmodule.o] Error 1
Makefile:1501: recipe for target 'Modules/signalmodule.o' failed
make: ***[Modules/signalmodule.o] error 1

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Building Python on Cygwin is not trivial -- I tried. However, the Python community on its bug tracker website is unusually friendly and gentle for a project its size and importance. If you find specific issues, open bugs and follow the discussion. Usually, they will accept tiny patches to fix Cygwin build issues.

This patch will solve your first problem about si->si_band. See related Python issue #21085.

This blog post (in German) is amazing. It will walk you through step-by-step how to build Python3.4 and fix all Cygwin issues.

Good luck. You will need it.