How to build pygobject for custom installation of Python?

Question

For my own reasons I have installed python3.3 from source on Debian Wheezy. I want to add some modules to it, including pygobject (gi.repository, etc). Most of the software I want is already working and installed on the same machine for python3.2 (the default python3 on Wheezy).

I can point python3.3 to the generic /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages to pick up the already-installed python3.2 code by manipulating the PYTHONPATH, but (of course?) that fails to import correctly. So, I figured I needed to build pygobject from source for python3.3.

Having obtained the Wheezy source package for pygobject I tried the following, pointing the configuration to the python3.3 installation and executable in the downloaded pygobject directory:

$ PYTHON=/usr/local/bin/python3.3
$ export PYTHON
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local

The output of this is as follows:

checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... mawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... yes
checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking for some Win32 platform... no
checking for native Win32... no
checking how to print strings... printf
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep
checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E
checking for fgrep... /bin/grep -F
checking for ld used by gcc... /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes
checking for BSD- or MS-compatible name lister (nm)... /usr/bin/nm -B
checking the name lister (/usr/bin/nm -B) interface... BSD nm
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 1572864
checking whether the shell understands some XSI constructs... yes
checking whether the shell understands "+="... yes
checking how to convert x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu file names to x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu format... func_convert_file_noop
checking how to convert x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu file names to toolchain format... func_convert_file_noop
checking for /usr/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r
checking for objdump... objdump
checking how to recognize dependent libraries... pass_all
checking for dlltool... dlltool
checking how to associate runtime and link libraries... printf %s\n
checking for ar... ar
checking for archiver @FILE support... @
checking for strip... strip
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc object... ok
checking for sysroot... no
checking for mt... mt
checking if mt is a manifest tool... no
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking for dlfcn.h... yes
checking for objdir... .libs
checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no
checking for gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC
checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes
checking if gcc static flag -static works... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes
checking whether the gcc linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build static libraries... no
configure: creating ./config.lt
config.lt: creating libtool
checking for library containing strerror... none required
checking for gcc... (cached) gcc
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... (cached) yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... (cached) yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... (cached) none needed
checking dependency style of gcc... (cached) gcc3
checking for gcc... (cached) gcc
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... (cached) yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... (cached) yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... (cached) none needed
checking dependency style of gcc... (cached) gcc3
checking whether gcc and cc understand -c and -o together... yes
checking whether /usr/local/bin/python3.3 version >= 2.5.2... yes
checking for /usr/local/bin/python3.3 version... 3.3
checking for /usr/local/bin/python3.3 platform... linux
checking for /usr/local/bin/python3.3 script directory... ${prefix}/lib/python3.3/site-packages
checking for /usr/local/bin/python3.3 extension module directory... ${exec_prefix}/lib/python3.3/site-packages
checking for /usr/local/bin/python3.3 >= 3.1... yes
checking for python version... (cached) 3.3
checking for python platform... (cached) linux
checking for python script directory... (cached) ${prefix}/lib/python3.3/site-packages
checking for python extension module directory... (cached) ${exec_prefix}/lib/python3.3/site-packages
checking for headers required to compile python extensions... not found
configure: error: Python headers not found

I have checked that the packages python-dev and python3-dev are installed, but of course these are intended for the default Wheezy pythons of python2.7 and python3.2, respectively. So, how do I change the configuration to pick up the correct headers for python3.3?

In case it is relevant, the exact version numbers are as follows: python-3.3.6, pygobject-3.2.2.

Answer 1

The config.log file in the build directory is very useful for sorting this out.

The python3.3 headers were installed in /usr/local/include/python3.3m, but the pygobject build process was looking in the wrong place, in /usr/local/include/python3.3 (missing the m). To correct this the configuration needs to adapt the environment flag:

$ PYTHON=/usr/local/bin/python3.3
$ export PYTHON
$ CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include/python3.3m
$ export CPPFLAGS
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local

Additional issues when libraries cannot be found can be resolved by configuring the PKG_CONFIG_PATH, using colons as separators if more than one needs to be specified (see answers to this question for examples). On Debian, I needed the following additional lines before successfully running ./configure:

$ PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib/pkgconfig
$ export PKG_CONFIG_PATH