1 Introduction
2 ------------
3
4 The parallel module provides elementary support for parallel programming in
5 Python using a fork-based process creation model in conjunction with a
6 channel-based communications model implemented using socketpair and poll.
7
8 Quick Start
9 -----------
10
11 Try running some of the tests:
12
13 PYTHONPATH=. python tests/create_loop.py
14 PYTHONPATH=. python tests/start_loop.py
15
16 (Simple loop demonstrations which use two different ways of creating and
17 starting the parallel processes.)
18
19 PYTHONPATH=. python tests/start_indexer.py <directory>
20
21 (A text indexing demonstration, where <directory> should be a directory
22 containing text files to be indexed, although HTML files will also work well
23 enough. After indexing the files, a prompt will appear, words or word
24 fragments can be entered, and matching words and their locations will be
25 shown. Run the program without arguments to see more information.)
26
27 Contact, Copyright and Licence Information
28 ------------------------------------------
29
30 No Web page has yet been made available for this work, but the author can be
31 contacted at the following e-mail address:
32
33 paul@boddie.org.uk
34
35 Copyright and licence information can be found in the docs directory - see
36 docs/COPYING.txt and docs/LICENCE.txt for more information.
37
38 Dependencies
39 ------------
40
41 This software depends on standard library features which are stated as being
42 available only on "UNIX"; it has only been tested on a GNU/Linux system.
43
44 Release Procedures
45 ------------------
46
47 Update the parallel __version__ attribute.
48 Change the version number and package filename/directory in the documentation.
49 Update the release notes (see above).
50 Check the release information in the PKG-INFO file.
51 Tag, export.
52 Archive, upload.
53 Update PyPI, PythonInfo Wiki, Vaults of Parnassus entries.
54
55 Making Packages
56 ---------------
57
58 To make Debian packages:
59
60 1. Create new package directories under packages/debian if necessary.
61 2. Make a symbolic link in the distribution's root directory to keep the
62 Debian tools happy:
63
64 ln -s packages/debian/python2.4-parallel-module/debian/
65
66 3. Run the package builder:
67
68 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
69
70 4. Locate and tidy up the packages in the parent directory of the
71 distribution's root directory.