René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Install a static installation description file as part of the Python installation","articleBody":"\u003c!--\n  Proposing a new feature for Python?\n  You'll need to demonstrate widespread support for your idea among the community.\n\n  Major feature proposals should generally be discussed at\n  https://discuss.python.org/c/ideas/6 before opening a GitHub issue.\n  Wait until it's clear that most people support your idea\n  before filling in this form.\n--\u003e\n\n# Feature or enhancement\n\nShip a static file that describes various aspects of the installation as part of the Python installation.\n\n**UPDATE**: Proposed as [PEP 739](https://peps.python.org/pep-0739/), which has been accepted.\n\n\n# Pitch\n\nShipping such a file would make it much easier to introspect a Python installation without having to run the interpreter. There are many use-cases for this, but some key would be for eg. Python launchers, and cross-compilation tooling.\n\nInformation we could provide:\n- Python language version\n- Python implementation (inc. version)\n- Interpreter path\n- Standard library path\n- Interpreter architecture\n- Python ABI\n  - Tag ([PEP 3149](https://peps.python.org/pep-3149) on Posix)\n  - Build flags (debug, trace refs)\n- Static `libpython` (available?)\n  - Name\n  - Location\n- Shared `libpython` (available?)\n  - Name (standard library)\n  - Major-only pin library name (eg. `libpython3.so`)\n  - Location\n- C API \n    - Hex version\n    - Include paths\n    - Required C flags\n- Supported native module file extensions\n  - Interpreter-specific\n  - Stable ABI\n\n(incomplete table, just an initial proposal)\n\nNote: This issue specifically targets a descriptor file for the Python **installation**, not a Python **environment**, so paths are out of scope.\n\n\n# Previous discussion\n\nhttps://discuss.python.org/t/what-information-is-useful-to-know-statically-about-an-interpreter/25563.\n\n(cc @brettcannon)\n\n\u003c!-- gh-linked-prs --\u003e\n### Linked PRs\n* gh-108483\n* gh-130069\n\u003c!-- /gh-linked-prs --\u003e\n","author":{"url":"https://github.com/FFY00","@type":"Person","name":"FFY00"},"datePublished":"2023-08-14T23:30:32.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":25},"url":"https://github.com/107956/cpython/issues/107956"}