[Slackbuilds-users] RFC: SlackBuild to Install Newer Python to /opt

[Matteo Bernardini]

hi Lumin,

we avoided doing a python3-opt SlackBuild until now because we didn't want
to install a parallel python interpreter in the system: the potential new
dependencies that the various scripts that might use that are *a lot* and
we cannot afford to maintain what we have on SBo for the system's python
also for another python in /opt, it will result in madness for the
maintainers and for the admins.
but if you really want to use a newer python for wormhole you can add the
python3 build to the wormhole SlackBuild itself so that *everything* is
restricted to the /opt/wormhole directory, also the newer python3
interpreter, so that no other script should use it.

Matteo

Il giorno lun 8 giu 2026 alle ore 10:19 Lumin Etherlight via
SlackBuilds-users <slackbuilds-users at slackbuilds.org> ha scritto:

>
> Hello, friends,
>
>         I was  trying to  package magic-wormhole[1],
>   but found out that it requires Python 3.10+, which
>   is newer than the  version available in Slackware.
>   I solved  this by compiling a  python3-opt version
>   of python,  that installs to /opt,  without effect
>   on the base Python install.
>
>         I also wrote a SlackBuild for magic-wormhole
>   that installs pre-built wheels for the package and
>   all of its dependencies into a venv, then packages
>   it as  an installation to /opt  too.  the wormhole
>   executables are then copied  to /usr/bin, and they
>   work as  expected; they automatically use  the new
>   /opt Python installation, since they set it as the
>   shebang #!  interpreter,  thus using the libraries
>   installed in that venv.
>
>         Wormhole works, all  dependencies are in the
>   /opt/magic-wormhole-bin  venv, the  Python install
>   it uses is in /opt/python3.  This seems to be some
>   reasonable  method to  package such  applications.
>   Close to  a typical -bin package,  but for Python,
>   basically.  The  final wormhole package  is 26MiB,
>   so not  too bloated.  Other applications  that may
>   depend on  newer Python3  versions can  perhaps do
>   the same, until we hopefully get a newer Python in
>   Slackware.  No internet  connection is required at
>   build-time for  this method; all  dependencies are
>   listed in the .info file as expected.
>
>         I have submitted  both scripts; python3-opt,
>   and magic-wormhole-bin, for your consideration and
>   review.  I don't expect them to be published soon,
>   of course,  as this approach is  not traditionally
>   used in  SlackBuilds, so it will  likely take some
>   discussion, testing, and improvement.  On my side,
>   python3-opt was tested on clean Slackware installs
>   fully patched,  for both 32bit and  64bit.  As for
>   magic-wormhole-bin, it works on 64bit for now, and
>   that's where I  tested it.  It fails  on 32bit, in
>   an isolated venv, with  some Rust compiler errors,
>   as one  of the dependencies compiles  something at
>   some point,  probably a Python plugin.   I haven't
>   had time to debug this yet.
>
>   Feedback is, as always, much appreciated :)
>
> [1]: https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/
>
>
> Best Regards,
> Lumin Etherlight
> _______________________________________________
> SlackBuilds-users mailing list
> SlackBuilds-users at slackbuilds.org
> https://lists.slackbuilds.org/mailman/listinfo/slackbuilds-users
> Archives - https://lists.slackbuilds.org/pipermail/slackbuilds-users/
> FAQ - https://slackbuilds.org/faq/
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.slackbuilds.org/pipermail/slackbuilds-users/attachments/20260608/6fbd9b44/attachment.htm>