Re: lang/nodejs builds, works fine with python 39

[David Brownlee <abs%absd.org@localhost>]

On Wed, 4 Aug 2021 at 20:18, Jonathan Perkin <jperkin%joyent.com@localhost> wrote:
>
> * On 2021-08-04 at 20:02 BST, Louis Guillaume wrote:
>
> >Do you think something like this might be workable? It appears to DTRT
> >on my systems, although it does require both versions of python if the
> >PYTHON_VERSION_DEFAULT isn't "27" (and PKG_OPTIONS.node has "dtrace").
> >Keeps unwanted builds of python27 away!
>
> I'd rather not.  Are you 100% certain that the python2 script is only
> ever used when building with the dtrace option?
>
> Just for context I've had to fix this a number of times in the past when
> others have tried to remove the python27 dependency, which has wasted my
> time and caused build breakages for users, so I'm particularly sensitive
> regarding this issue.
>
> It's not a runtime dependency, and so the risk of breaking the build far
> outweighs the small advantage for people who build from source in my
> opinion.  I'd honestly rather see effort put into just fixing the script
> in question and submitting a python3 compatible version upstream if it's
> something people care about - that way everyone wins.

Maybe if someone was to run a full bulk build before and after the
suggested patch to confirm no additional breakage on at least one
platform?  Just trying to establish a baseline for "if someone does
this first then it may be worth looking at"

(Obviously it would be better to repeat on NetBSD, macOS & SmartOS :-p)

David