Are you tired of running into mysterious errors when using Distutils? But first, let me introduce you to some other tools that can help with debugging in Python: Mu and Jupyter Notebooks.
Mu is a simple Python editor for beginner programmers on Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. It provides a visual interface depending on the project type and includes built-in support for debugging. This means you can step through your code line by line to see what’s going wrong.
Jupyter Notebooks is a web UI for Python (and other programming languages) that has a visual debugger integrated. It allows you to write, run, and share code all in one place. You can also use it as an interactive data analysis tool or to create presentations with live code examples.
Now Distutils Debug Mode! By enabling this feature, Distutils will provide more detailed information about what it’s doing at each step of the process. This can help you identify and fix issues that might otherwise be difficult to diagnose. To enable Debug Mode, simply add the `–debug` flag when running your setup script:
bash
# This script is used to install a Python package using the setup.py file.
# The --debug flag is added to enable Debug Mode, providing more detailed information about the installation process.
# The first line specifies the interpreter to be used, in this case, Python.
#!/bin/bash
# The next line runs the setup.py file and installs the package, while also enabling Debug Mode.
python setup.py install --debug
# The script ends here, as there are no further commands or actions specified.
Or if you’re using a package manager like pip or conda, you can pass the same flag to those commands as well:
# This script installs a package called "my-package" using the pip and conda package managers with the debug flag enabled.
# Install "my-package" using pip with the debug flag enabled
pip install my-package --verbose
# Install "my-package" using conda from the conda-forge channel with the debug flag enabled
conda install -c conda-forge my-package --verbose
Once Debug Mode is enabled, Distutils will print out a lot of extra information that you can use to troubleshoot issues. For example:
bash
# This script is used to build an extension called 'my_extension' using Distutils.
# It is used to troubleshoot issues by enabling Debug Mode.
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as-needed: These flags are used to optimize the build process.
# - -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10/my_extension.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: This flag specifies the output file name and location.
# - -shared: This flag is used to create a shared library.
# - -L/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the location of the library files.
# - -lfoo: This flag links the extension with the 'foo' library.
# - -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the runtime path for the library.
# - my_extension.c: This is the source file for the extension.
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as-needed: These flags are used to optimize the build process.
# - -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10/my_extension.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: This flag specifies the output file name and location.
# - -shared: This flag is used to create a shared library.
# - -L/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the location of the library files.
# - -lfoo: This flag links the extension with the 'foo' library.
# - -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the runtime path for the library.
# - my_extension.c: This is the source file for the extension.
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as-needed: These flags are used to optimize the build process.
# - -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10/my_extension.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: This flag specifies the output file name and location.
# - -shared: This flag is used to create a shared library.
# - -L/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the location of the library files.
# - -lfoo: This flag links the extension with the 'foo' library.
# - -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the runtime path for the library.
# - my_extension.c: This is the source file for the extension.
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as-needed: These flags are used to optimize the build process.
# - -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10/my_extension.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: This flag specifies the output file name and location.
# - -shared: This flag is used to create a shared library.
# - -L/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the location of the library files.
# - -lfoo: This flag links the extension with the 'foo' library.
# - -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the runtime path for the library.
# - my_extension.c: This is the source file for the extension.
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as-needed: These flags are used to optimize the build process.
# - -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10/my_extension.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: This flag specifies the output file name and location.
# - -shared: This flag is used to create a shared library.
# - -L/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the location of the library files.
# - -lfoo: This flag links the extension with the 'foo' library.
# - -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the runtime path for the library.
# - my_extension.c: This is the source file for the extension.
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as-needed: These flags are used to optimize the build process.
# - -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10/my_extension.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: This flag specifies the output file name and location.
# - -shared: This flag is used to create a shared library.
# - -L/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the location of the library files.
# - -lfoo: This flag links the extension with the 'foo' library.
# - -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib64: This flag specifies the runtime path for the library.
# - my_extension.c: This is the source file for the extension.
# Enable Debug Mode
export DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1
# Build the extension
python setup.py build_ext
# The following commands are used to build the extension:
# - running build_ext: This command initiates the build process.
# - building 'my_extension' extension: This command specifies the name of the extension being built.
# - creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.10: This command creates a temporary build directory.
# - gcc: This command is used to compile the extension using the GNU Compiler Collection.
# - -pthread: This flag is used to enable multithreading support.
# - -B /usr/bin/ld: This flag specifies the location of the linker.
# - -Wl,-O1,--as
In this example, you can see that Distutils is building an extension module called `my_extension`, and it’s using the gcc compiler to do so. It’s also linking against a library called `foo`. If there were any errors during this process, they would be printed out as well.
So next time you run into issues with Distutils or Python in general, don’t panic! Just enable Debug Mode and let it guide you through the troubleshooting process. And if all else fails, feel free to reach out for help on our friendly Python community forums or chat rooms.