From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-ID: <00ac01c17b2a$169cc420$a4b6c6d4@cybercable.fr>
From: "Boyd Roberts" <boyd@fr.inter.net>
To: <9fans@cse.psu.edu>
References: <20011202093912.ED449199BF@mail.cse.psu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] python
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Date: Sun,  2 Dec 2001 13:08:43 +0100
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 2e33b426-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025

> Supposedly a Python port exists, but the URL
> on the Wiki and in the Plan 9 FAQ doesn't work.

Yes, there is one IIRC.

> Anyone have other details?  Do you know if it
> was a native port or an APE port?

Not really.  My native port ground to a halt when
my 'copious spare time' (tm) went to zero.  I would
still like to complete it.

I believe that APE ports are cheating and are an
invitation for disaster (no slur on APE intended)
because of the multiple layers of complexity and
the 'where is the bug' syndrome:

    Is it an application problem, ANSI problem, APE
    problem or Plan 9 problem?

Too many choices to my mind.  Native ports cut out
some of the uncertanty, but do raise other issues:

    You have to know unix and Plan 9 pretty well and you
    have to port it very cleanly because version n + 1 is
    just around the corner :(

On a quasi-related topic:  I had a hack at porting
faces/seemail to X11 using libXg.  This isn't too hard,
except some of the includes need to be augmented (or
added), some other libc functions need to be added
and ken C incompatibilities need to be addressed.

This last point has to be done cleanly, rather than
just hack (sic) defining around it.  I'd like to
build a toolkit to automate (as far as possible)
ports in both directions.

Before the Licence Police start to worry, I plan to
do it in such a way that you need to have Plan 9
installed and it copies the various files and all
other code will either be already in the public domain
or written from scratch by me.

I did have an evil thought of adding a:

    --kenC

option to gcc, but I'm pretty sure I'd be entering
a world of pain:

    Walter: OVER THE LINE!
    Smokey: Huh?
    Walter: I'm sorry, Smokey. You were over the line, that's a foul.
    Smokey: Bullshit. Mark it 8, Dude.
    Walter: Uh, excuse me. Mark it zero. Next frame.
    Smokey: Bullshit, Walter. Mark it 8, Dude.
    Walter: Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

    ... [Walter grabs his M1911] ...

    Walter: You're entering a world of pain.

It would only work for people with gcc, which is not
a sufficiently general (or good) solution to my mind.

btw: any 'Help's found in this message are Outlook Express'
     screams of pain.  I like to think of it as a testimony
     to the skills of Microsoft software engineering.