title: Error when cross compiling Python for ARM
body: <p>I'm trying to compile Python (version 3.1.3) for ARM, following <a href="http://randomsplat.com/id5-cross-compiling-python-for-embedded-linux.html">this guide</a>.  </p>
  
  <p>These are the commands I am issuing (on Ubuntu 12):</p>
  
  <pre><code>CC=arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc CXX=arm-linux-gnueabi-g++ AR=arm-linux-gnueabi-ar RANLIB=arm-linux-gnueabi-ranlib ./configure --host --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix=/python
  
  make HOSTPYTHON=./hostpython HOSTPGEN=./Parser/hostpgen BLDSHARED="arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc -shared" CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- CROSS_COMPILE_TARGET=yes HOSTARCH=x86_64-linux-gnu BUILDARCH=x86_64-linux-gnu
  
  make install HOSTPYTHON=./hostpython BLDSHARED="arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc -shared" CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- CROSS_COMPILE_TARGET=yes prefix=~/Python-2.7.2/_install
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>A few things to notice. </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>When executing the first command, if --host is set to arm-linux, the command won't execute, telling me that I should use '--host' for cross-compiling. This is why I did not set it to anything. </li>
  <li>When running the second line, I get </li>
  </ol>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>configure: WARNING: Cache variable ac_cv_host contains a newline.
    Failed to configure _ctypes module</p>
    
    <p>Python build finished, but the necessary bits to build these modules
    were not found:
    _curses            _curses_panel      _dbm<br>
    _gdbm              _hashlib           _sqlite3<br>
    _ssl               bz2                ossaudiodev      readline           zlib                                To find the necessary bits, look
    in setup.py in detect_modules() for the module's name.</p>
    
    <p>Failed to build these modules:
    _tkinter</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I get a similar error when running the third line, but I guess it's due to the fact that the command above did not work.   </p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to  see if anyone can help me fix it. </p>