Starship's Administration Log

I joined the Starship's group of system administrators on 11 June 1999. My main goal was to upgrade the Starship's Python setup to the most recent stable version of Python and to install many optional Python modules. I've also taken the lead with general software installation and maintaining the Starship Crew's FAQ. What follows is a log of my progress with Starship system administration.

17 July 1999

Finally was able to compile and install RNG for Python 1.5.2. Thanks to David Ascher for noticing that RNGmodule.c was including "numerical/arrayobject.h" instead of "numeric/arrayobject.h". It the makethis.py and installthis.py also seemed to require that I add /usr/local/bin to my PATH ahead of /usr/bin so that it would grab the correct include files and libraries.
Attempted to build Graphics portion of LLNLDistribution11, but I ran into trouble with include files.

20 June 1999

Compiled RNG (random number generation) for use with Python 1.5.2, but I'm unable to import it. Hmmm...

18 June 1999

Need to add FAQ entry about rsync over an ssh link
Updated FAQ entries about ssh and the Starship's Python installation.
Installed Emacs, version 20.3.

16 June 1999

Configured and built mxStack, mxTools, and mxTextTools for use with Python 1.5.2.
Fixed a misconfiguration of PIL with Python 1.5.2. It works now.
Compiled and installed Numeric Python for use with Python 1.5.2

15 June 1999

Installed Midnight Commander 4.1, a glorified text mode file browser.
Reconfigured, compiled, and installed Python 1.5.2.
Python 1.5.1 will still be the default Python until we do some testing with 1.5.2. Expect this testing to last at least a week.
Configured PIL so that it can be used with Python 1.5.2.
Configured and built mxDateTime for use with Python 1.5.2.

13 June 1999

Unpacked Marc Lemburg's mxExtensoins.

12 June 1999

Downloaded Python 1.5.2 from http://www.python.org/.
Downloaded PIL from http://www.pythonware.com/download.htm.
Built PIL.
Compiled and built Python 1.5.2, but did not install it.
Downloaded SWIG from http://www.swig.org.
Downloaded LLNL distribution, including Numeric Python from ftp://ftp-icf.llnl.gov/pub/python/.

6 June 1999

Configured the Starship Crew's FAQ Wizard and added the first questions and answers.