[Python-Dev] Packaging JIT-less versions of Python

Hey packaging guys, We recently committed a change to Unladen Swallow [1] that moves all the JIT infrastructure into a Python extension module. The theory [2] behind this patch was that this would make it easier for downstream packagers to ship a JIT-less Python package, with the JIT compiler available via an optional add-on package. Some questions for you, so we're not shooting blind here: - Have you guys thought about how a JIT-enabled Python 3 installation would be packaged by your respective distros? - Would you prefer the default python3.x package to have a JIT, or would you omit the JIT by default? - How would you prefer to build the JIT-less package (current options: via a ./configure flag; or by deleting _llvmjit.so from the JIT-enabled package)? - Would the two packages be able to exist side-by-side, or would they be mutually exclusive? My strong preference would be to have the JIT included by default so that it receives as much testing as possible. Thanks, Collin Winter [1] - http://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/source/detail?r=1110 [2] - http://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/issues/detail?id=136