[tahoe-dev] [tahoe-lafs] #1015: undocumented: attempts to build from source of dependencies such as pycryptopp and pyOpenSSL

[tahoe-lafs]

#1015: undocumented: attempts to build from source of dependencies such as
pycryptopp and pyOpenSSL
-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------
 Reporter:  zooko                                            |           Owner:  nejucomo 
     Type:  defect                                           |          Status:  new      
 Priority:  major                                            |       Milestone:  undecided
Component:  packaging                                        |         Version:  1.6.1    
 Keywords:  docs setuptools install pycryptopp zfec openssl  |   Launchpad_bug:           
-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------
 (originally #1013)

 Tahoe-LAFS depends on many libraries, including pycryptopp, pyOpenSSL, and
 zfec. If those libraries are already installed, or if there is a binary
 egg package of the library available on the web at build-time, then the
 Tahoe-LAFS setup.py script will automatically satisfy those dependencies.

 If not, then the Tahoe-LAFS setup.py script will automatically attempt to
 build those dependencies from source. This behavior is not documented in
 the Tahoe-LAFS install docs, so it is a source of surprise and confusion
 to users. In many cases the attempt fails due to missing tools (such as a
 C++ compiler) or missing headers, such as OpenSSL headers, or the local
 system configuration not being set up so that the right headers are
 importable by the C++ compiler, etc. When it fails, it leaves users with
 the impression that there is a bug in the Tahoe-LAFS build system, and
 leads to bug reports which are hard for Tahoe-LAFS developers to usefully
 respond to.

 The next step is to document this situation, probably by adding to
 [wiki:InstallDetails the InstallDetails page] on the wiki (which is linked
 from [http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe-lafs/trunk/docs/install.html the
 install instructions].

 To close this ticket: add information to [wiki:InstallDetails] explaining
 about how the setup.py script attempts to build dependencies from source
 automatically, as well as suggestions about how to understand which
 dependency is being built, how to install that dependency yourself
 manually, or how to install build tools and headers so that the dependency
 can be built from source automatically.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/1015>
tahoe-lafs <http://allmydata.org>
secure decentralized file storage grid