[vbox-dev] Using Python API from non-system Python interpreter on OS X == segfault

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Hi Tony,

On 09.12.2013 17:54, tonyceb at andrew.cmu.edu wrote:
> I'm using VirtualBox 4.3.4 on OS X 10.9, and trying to use the Python
> interface to manage VMs.
>
> If I use the system python interpreter (/usr/bin/python) it works fine,
> but if I try to use an alternate Python (e.g. the version installed by
> Homebrew) I get a segfault.  Is there any way to make the Python bindings
> usable from a different Python interpreter?

You probably have to build and link them against the include 
files/libraries for that Python interpreter and they'd work afterwards. 
The Python bindings (at least in the local API variant) rely on a module 
which is partially implemented by a library, and tiny python config 
differences can make it incompatible, causing those breakages.

We don't do anything which is "system python" only, but for obvious 
reasons we can't predict the presence or configuration of 3rd party 
python implementations. The base package only contains binary modules 
for the system python versions.

Maybe we should put the sources into the SDK, would make it at least a 
little bit easier - but still I doubt we'll find time for that in the 
near future. Contributions are welcome.

Klaus

>
> Thanks.
> -Tony