Documentation incorrect

[GoogleCodeExporter]

On this page: http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/wiki/InstallationIssues

There is this quote:
"""
Linux distributions where this is known to be a problem are older Red Hat
derived distributions such as Fedora. Other distributions such as Ubuntu do
not have a problem as they use a shared library for the Python library.
"""

This is incorrect on several counts:

1) Red Hat distributions are derived from Fedora, not the other way around.
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux could be characterized as an older Fedora but
Fedora can't be described as an older RHEL.
2) mod_wsgi and mod_python are linked against the shared libpython on
Fedora and on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (Checked RHEL-5.4).

If there are problems on Fedora or RHEL, linking against a static libpython
is not the root cause.  If you know of a solid reproducer I can test
whether the issue shows up on RHEL-5.4 and non-EOL Fedoras.  I don't have
access to a box running RHEL-4 or earlier to check whether there's a
problem on older RHEL releases.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by a.bad...@gmail.com on 4 Mar 2010 at 9:14

[GoogleCodeExporter]

From wikipedia:

'Fedora Core 1 was the first version of Fedora and was released on November 6, 
2003.[1] It was codenamed 
Yarrow. Fedora Core 1 was based on Red Hat Linux 9 and shipped with version 
2.4.19 of the Linux kernel, 
version 2.4 of the GNOME desktop environment, and version 3.1 of KDE (the K 
Desktop Environment).[27]'

So Fedora was originally based on a Red Hat distribution. The term Fedora only 
came along a long time after 
RedHat was first released. It is that lineage and those older versions that I 
was referring to. It may well be the 
case that recent RedHat distributions actually take from Fedora, but that 
hasn't always been so.

The issues the documentation talks about may well no longer exist with recent 
distributions because Linux 
distributors after much complaining, a lot of it mine, have fixed the Python 
distributions. I still though have 
been dealing with this problem for six years or more, currently with mod_wsgi 
but before that in mod_python, 
so have dealt directly with those early Fedora distributions which were derived 
from RedHat.

Even though newer Linux distributions exist also doesn't mean the problem goes 
away because people often 
hold on quite tightly to older versions of Linux and don't upgrade, so the 
issue still crops up occasionally, but 
not as bad as before. It can also still present when people build from Python 
source code themselves as enabling 
shared library support isn't the default in Python when building it.

So maybe the documentation could be updated now, It was written a long time 
ago, but I don't have the time to 
track every Linux distribution and whether or not specific versions fixed the 
issue or not. At the time I said 
'older Red Hat derived distributions such as Fedora' as it was a valid comment 
at the time. I'll consider changing 
it to something like 'older RedHat and Fedora distributions' if your feel that 
is not as confusing now.

Original comment by Graham.Dumpleton@gmail.com on 4 Mar 2010 at 9:36

• Added labels: Type-Other
• Removed labels: Type-Defect

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Documentation changed to say 'older Red Hat and Fedora distributions'.

Actually, based on:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=524120

it may actually still be a problem with current RedHat distributions as the 
conflicts they are talking about are the 
exact problems that the documentation was talking about.

Original comment by Graham.Dumpleton@gmail.com on 9 Mar 2010 at 10:56

• Changed state: Fixed