python fails to locate system libffi

[rkuska]

BPO	26661
Nosy	@vstinner, @tiran, @rkuska
PRs	[Do Not Merge] Convert Misc/NEWS so that it is managed by towncrier #552
Files	00184-ctypes-should-build-with-libffi-multilib-wrapper.patch

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/tiran'
closed_at = <Date 2016-09-18.12:41:39.402>
created_at = <Date 2016-03-29.10:09:12.167>
labels = ['build', '3.7']
title = 'python fails to locate system libffi'
updated_at = <Date 2017-03-31.16:36:25.334>
user = 'https://github.com/rkuska'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2017-03-31.16:36:25.334>
actor = 'dstufft'
assignee = 'christian.heimes'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2016-09-18.12:41:39.402>
closer = 'christian.heimes'
components = ['Build']
creation = <Date 2016-03-29.10:09:12.167>
creator = 'rkuska'
dependencies = []
files = ['42320']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 26661
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['262598', '276885', '276887', '276888']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['vstinner', 'christian.heimes', 'python-dev', 'rkuska']
pr_nums = ['552']
priority = 'high'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'compile error'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue26661'
versions = ['Python 2.7', 'Python 3.5', 'Python 3.6', 'Python 3.7']

[rkuska]

Python fails to locate system version of ffi when building. We delete bundled version of ffi and build process fail with following error:

error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/builddir/build/BUILD/Python-3.5.1/Modules/_ctypes/libffi'

This is caused by setup.py@1993 checking only for '#define LIBFFI_H' within ffi.h.

Content of /usr/include/ffi.h:

> $ cat /usr/include/ffi.h
/* This file is here to prevent a file conflict on multiarch systems. */
#ifdef ffi_wrapper_h
#error "Do not define ffi_wrapper_h!"
#endif
#define ffi_wrapper_h

#if defined(__i386__)
#include "ffi-i386.h"
#elif defined(__powerpc64__)
#include "ffi-ppc64.h"
#elif defined(__powerpc__)
#include "ffi-ppc.h"
#elif defined(__s390x__)
#include "ffi-s390x.h"
#elif defined(__s390__)
#include "ffi-s390.h"
#elif defined(__x86_64__)
#include "ffi-x86_64.h"
#else
#error "The libffi-devel package is not usable with the architecture."
#endif

#undef ffi_wrapper_h

It is important to note that this content is Fedora specific. As a workaround we (Fedora) use attached patch.

Would it be plausible to accept this patch in upstream?

[tiran]

This affects Python 3.7 because our own copy of libffi was removed from 'default'.

[python-dev]

New changeset c4cec8f7c727 by Christian Heimes in branch '3.5':
Issue bpo-26661: setup.py now detects system libffi with multiarch wrapper.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/c4cec8f7c727

New changeset 18825546acbc by Christian Heimes in branch '3.6':
Issue bpo-26661: setup.py now detects system libffi with multiarch wrapper.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/18825546acbc

New changeset 35820a4a6967 by Christian Heimes in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-26661: setup.py now detects system libffi with multiarch wrapper.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/35820a4a6967

New changeset 2a3e4fa42464 by Christian Heimes in branch '2.7':
Issue bpo-26661: setup.py now detects system libffi with multiarch wrapper.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/2a3e4fa42464

[tiran]

Thanks Robert, I have been running into the same issue for a while.