[Info-vax] VSI Python 3.8.2 port, with a OpenVMS Shark Logo...

[Jan-Erik Söderholm]

Den 2020-11-23 kl. 17:27, skrev Craig A. Berry:
> On 11/23/20 8:27 AM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
>> Den 2020-11-23 kl. 15:03, skrev Craig A. Berry:
>>>
>>> On 11/23/20 1:57 AM, Jean-François Piéronne wrote:
>>>> Le 22/11/2020 à 00:18, Craig A. Berry a écrit :
>>>>>
>>>>> On 11/21/20 1:18 PM, Chris Townley wrote:
>>>>>> On 21/11/2020 18:42, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> VSI has announced a recent Python port for OpenVMS. (Python 3.9 and
>>>>>>> 3.8.6 are the most current.)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> https://twitter.com/VMSSoftware/status/1329794043556098051
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As for the new or new-to-me OpenVMS logo shown, there's a /fin joke
>>>>>>> here somewhere, I just know it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>   From first look this is I64 only?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Is this the future of Alpha here?
>>>>>
>>>>> Um, the future of Alpha has been pretty clear since it was discontinued
>>>>> a couple of decades ago. VSI does still produce Alpha kits for many (but
>>>>> not all) of its open source ports, though often shortly after the
>>>>> Itanium kits appear.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the particular case of Python 3.x, however, I'm not sure if anyone
>>>>> has yet ported the requisite libffi library to Alpha.  Last I heard,
>>>>> doing so required knowledge of Alpha assembler, DWARF, Alpha function
>>>>> signature details, and the OpenVMS calling standard.  Possibly other
>>>>> things I'm forgetting.  People with all the necessary skills probably
>>>>> have other things to do. Have you opened a ticket with VSI to ask for
>>>>> support?
>>>>
>>>> When we do the port, Philippe Vouters and I, of libffi to OpenVMS we
>>>> (mostly Philippe) do the port for Alpha and I64.
>>>
>>> Good to know.  Only the IA64 port is available here:
>>>
>>> <https://vmsfree.ouvaton.org/freen/index.php?s=libffi>
>>>
>>>> In fact, we do the port for Python.
>>>>
>>>> So you can build Python 3 on Alpha without any problem.
>>>>
>>>> A few months ago I have asked if anyone is interested having a Python
>>>> 3.10 on Alpha, no replies, as all customers who use Python on OpenVMS
>>>> are on I64, I only ld images for I64.
>>>>
>>>> All the sources, Python 3.10 and libffi and others are on
>>>> https://foss.vmsgenerations.org/
>>>
>>> Which points to a GitLab sign-in page.  Apparently one has to have an
>>> account to see anything there.  Which also means nothing there will turn
>>> up in a web search because the search engines won't be able to see
>>> anything behind the authentication wall.
>>>
>>>> So if you want a Python 3 on Alpha it's not very difficult to build it.
>>>>
>>>> And Python 3.10 will be provided on X86-64, I have build some libraries
>>>> without any problem, the only expected one will be libffi.
>>>>
>>>> The Python 3.10 port have the same VMS extension as the 2.7 version.
>>>> This is very important for customers who have large Python applications
>>>> on VMS.
>>>>
>>>> Currently, the only limitation is that Python 3.10 expect some modern
>>>> CRTL so need VSI VMS version with latest CRTL patches. But I know
>>>> someone which is investigating is it can be backported to 8.4 HP version.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> JFP
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> I do not see why an account to see the vmsgenerations content is an issue.
> 
> I already explained that people who don't know it's there will never be
> able to find it. It's also just another hoop to jump through when it's
> easy enough to allow public access to a GitLab project:
> 
> <https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/public_access/public_access.html>
> 
>> I find it more noteworthy that JFP has a Python 3.10 available for IA64
>> since some time back (this summer) while the VSI version is currently on
>> 3.9 or 3.8.6.
> 
> JFP's work is exemplary but 3.10 is still in pre-release and really
> should not be used in production.  VSI's release of 3.8.2 is pretty much
> in line with what other vendors are doing, assuming they have even moved
> to Python 3.

Ah, OK... :-)

I didn't know that.