`make check` doesn't work on vanilla Ubuntu 22.04

[DimitriPapadopoulos]

⇒ Should we switch from python and pytest to python3 and pytest-3?

---

1. Command python is not available by default on a vanilla installation. Package python3-minimal provides python3, and package python-is-python3, which is not installed by default, provides python:

$ make check-distutils
python setup.py check --restructuredtext --strict
make: python: No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:51: check-distutils] Error 127
$ 

We call python here:

codespell/Makefile

Lines 50 to 51 in 458de80

	check-distutils:
	python setup.py check --restructuredtext --strict

---

2. Command pytest is not available, instead package python3-pytest provides pytest-3:

$ make pytest
pytest codespell_lib
make: pytest: No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:57: pytest] Error 127
$ 

We call pytest here:

codespell/Makefile

Lines 56 to 57 in 458de80

	pytest:
	pytest codespell_lib

[DimitriPapadopoulos]

Need to run pip install pytest with --upgrade to override pytest-3 provided by the DEB package with the pytest installed by pip:

$ which pytest
$ 
$ dpkg -S `which pytest-3`
python3-pytest: /usr/bin/pytest-3
$ 
$ pip install --user pytest
Requirement already satisfied: pytest in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (6.2.5)
$ 
$ pip install --user --upgrade pytest
Requirement already satisfied: pytest in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (6.2.5)
Collecting pytest
  Using cached pytest-7.2.0-py3-none-any.whl (316 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: tomli>=1.0.0 in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (from pytest) (1.2.2)
Requirement already satisfied: iniconfig in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (from pytest) (1.1.1)
Requirement already satisfied: packaging in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (from pytest) (21.3)
Requirement already satisfied: attrs>=19.2.0 in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (from pytest) (21.2.0)
Requirement already satisfied: pluggy<2.0,>=0.12 in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (from pytest) (0.13.0)
Collecting exceptiongroup>=1.0.0rc8
  Using cached exceptiongroup-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl (12 kB)
Installing collected packages: exceptiongroup, pytest
Successfully installed exceptiongroup-1.0.0 pytest-7.2.0
$ 

[cclauss]

macOS:

% pytest-3 --version

zsh: command not found: pytest-3

➜ pytest --version

pytest 7.1.2

[peternewman]

Assuming we don't want to go down the whole configure/autoconf route, would it be worth doing a partial step where we check for in order pytest, pytest-3 and python, python3 and use the first one we find, which I think would fix your errors on a vanilla Ubuntu @DimitriPapadopoulos ?

[DimitriPapadopoulos]

Concerning pytest, that's what I had implemented in the Makefile: try pytest then py.test-3.

Concerning python, yes I guess we could do the same in the Makefile; try python, then python3.

I agree these are distribution oddities, that should ideally be addressed by distributions themselves. In the meantime, I thought it would be profitable for codespell to be able to run make check despite these oddities.

[cclauss]

Lot's of stackoverflow comments say that invoking via py.test is deprecated but I was unable to find anything in the pytest docs that says that explicitly. Their pyproject.toml seems to continue to support it.

https://docs.pytest.org/en/7.2.x/how-to/usage.html#other-ways-of-calling-pytest

Node.js Makefile does PYTHON ?= python3 and then they use $(PYTHON) for all invocations like $(PYTHON) -m pytest. Node.js has gotta work on WIndows.

[larsoner]

I wouldn't bother working around the python3 stuff. I'd rather tell people to alias in their terminal or use some similar fix. At least the other projects I work on don't try to accommodate the python3-style names, so AFAIK the most common practice is to have people fix things at their end so python ... itself can work