Creating Python 2.4 Zaurus Image, What extra modules are a "must" Options

[kopsis]

I decided the shiny new Cacko 1.22 ROM on my Z needed a shiny new version of Python to go with it, so I'm building up a new Zaurus Python image with Python 2.4. I have the base Python image built and working and it includes all the "standard" Python modules (with the exception of crypt and nis for which I'm still missing libraries) including distutils, encodings, curses, readline, xml, etc.

In addition to the ext2 format, I'll also be releasing this new Python image as a cramfs for folks that want to run off SD (or internal flash) without chewing up so much space. Its not easy for folks to add stuff to the cramfs image on their own, so before I package it up, I'd like to find out if there are any "site-packages" that people think are critical to doing Python on the Z. The obvious ones (to me) are PyQT and pysqlite so I'll be including those. If there's anything else you'd like to see (that won't bloat things up too much), now's the time to ask.

[kopsis]

The palmdb module sounds like a great idea! I'll look into that one.

The CJK codecs from the standard 2.4 distribution are definitely included, as are doctest and unittest I'll have to take a look at the "twisted" stuff. If it's small enough and builds easily, I'll throw it in.

Database wise, pysqlite for sqlite3 is in there. Hopefully there won't be too many folks still wanting to use sqlite2 database files.

I've also built and tested MySQL-python 1.1.8 for MySQL 3.23.49 (which seems to be the latest Zaurus IPK around). It's not perfect ... the client libs default to the wrong directory for the localhost socket and choke if you force them to read my.cnf. But those problems are easy enough to work around with the right "connect" parameters. I'll be including the MySQL stuff for expert users who need to work with MySQL databases, but you're on your own when it comes to getting MySQL running on the Z. If you don't know why you would want to choose MySQL over sqlite, then you probably shouldn't

The cramfs image is currently running 8.3MiB and the ext2 version will weigh in at around 35MiB (25MiB + 10MiB free space). That's with the .pyo files stripped out (I don't think too many people use the optimize switch) but all the .py and .pyc files retained. With a little luck I'll be able to release in a couple weeks.