[IPython-user] Bus error

[Zachary Pincus]

> Patched with the current four patches from ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/ 
> bash/readline-5.1-patches, and rebuilt... still get the same error.

You are building shared libraries for readline, right? Because if you  
built a static readline, and then built python against the static  
readline, it might still be using the old bad readline. In that case,  
you may need to rebuild python.

> When I say 'rebuilt', I did
>
> make uninstall
> make clean
> make distclean
>
> Then started over with configure.

Just to make sure, you did *apply* the patches with the patch  
command, and patch gave no complaints?

Here are the instructions I give to people for building readline 5.1  
correctly:

curl -O ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/readline-5.1.tar.gz
tar -xzf readline-5.1.tar.gz
cd readline-5.1
curl -O ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/readline-5.1-patches/readline51-001
curl -O ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/readline-5.1-patches/readline51-002
curl -O ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/readline-5.1-patches/readline51-003
curl -O ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/readline-5.1-patches/readline51-004
cat readline51* | patch
./configure
make
sudo make install

If you did just that, and the problems persist, there are several  
options. For one, you might try using an older and better-tested  
version of readline. I think 4.2 is thought to be really solid.

Other options are outlined below.

> I'm not familiar with gdb, but running python under it didn't seem  
> to work:
>
> ~ $ gdb python
> GNU gdb 6.1-20040303 (Apple version gdb-434) (Wed Nov  2 17:28:16  
> GMT 2005)
>
> (gdb) run
> Starting program: /usr/local/bin/python
> Reading symbols for shared libraries . done
>
> Program received signal SIGTRAP, Trace/breakpoint trap.
> 0x8fe0100c in __dyld__dyld_start ()
> (gdb)

Umm, OK. That's odd. The internet thinks it might be related to a gdb  
bug. Your best bet (and something you should do anyway) is to get the  
latest Apple dev tools download ( https://connect.apple.com/cgi-bin/ 
WebObjects/MemberSite.woa/wa/getSoftware? 
fileID=20179&source=XCODE_2_2_FY06&code=XCODE_2.2_NEX ). This  
includes a newer version of gcc and gdb that have less issues.

For now, you could also do the following before the 'run' command
handle SIGTRAP ignore
or
handle SIGTRAP nostop
and see if that helps.

Now, did you build your own python, or is this a packaged version? If  
you built your own, you'll want to get the new dev tools, rebuild  
readline as above, and rebuild python.

If you got a packaged version of python, it is possible that the  
package has a (bad) static version of readline linked in, causing  
problems a la the above.

My standard MO is to build my own readline and python and everything.  
It takes a little more time, but after that things work rather well.  
Here are step-by-step instructions I wrote for some folks in my  
degree program on installing python/ipython/numpy/scipy etc. from  
source on OS X 10.4. Maybe they'll help: http:// 
bmistudents.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-installation-of-proper-python.html

Zach


>
> Thanks for your help, I still suspect readline....
>
> Cheers,
> Mike
>