python2.7 throws bus error when issuing `help("modules")'

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Aug 24, 2020, at 17:32, Jeffrey Walton wrote:

> Sorry, I have no idea what standard processes Macports adheres to. I
> assume there's something in place (other than, "It compiles on my Mac
> Intel, ship it").

Just to make sure we're not inadvertently misrepresenting what we provide, "it compiles on my Mac, ship it" is pretty much what I do when I update most of my ports, and probably what most other contributors do as well. Most contributors probably only have one Mac, one system on which they can test.

If I anticipate that a change will cause a problem for a particular subset of systems, I'll try to work that out before I commit it, but I can't anticipate every problem.

If a contributor submits a pull request, then trial builds are automatically performed by Travis and Azure on several recent macOS/Xcode versions. This helps uncover issues the contributor may not have seen on their system, and ideally the contributor notices those failures and fixes them before the PR is merged.

Once a change is pushed to the repository, our Buildbot machines build the affected ports on every OS version from 10.6 to 10.15. This can uncover yet more issues, and ideally the contributor monitors the Buildbot system and fixes any problems found.

If we miss something, a user can file a bug report. In response, ideally we will investigate and fix it, or, if it's not our bug, direct the user to the appropriate party.

But whatever efforts we may go to, there are no guarantees that anything we've done will work for you. Bear our BSD license in mind, which contains this disclaimer:

https://github.com/macports/macports-base/blob/master/LICENSE

> THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
> ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
> IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
> ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
> FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
> DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
> OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
> HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
> LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
> OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
> SUCH DAMAGE.

Also bear in mind the licenses of any software that you ask MacPorts to install; it most likely has similar disclaimers.