The package is in need of an update because it does not adhere to the guidelines for packaging static libraries: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Guidelines#Packaging_Static_Libraries The -devel package contains both the shared and the static build of a library. That makes it possible to link statically with the -devel package as a build requirement instead of having to build-require a special-purpose -static subpackage. Correct would be to either disable/delete the static libraries at build-time, or to %exclude them in the %files section, or to split off a -static subpackage (if there is a compelling reason as why the static libs should be made available). Please consult the guidelines for the details. [...] python-devel /usr/lib/python2.6/config/libpython2.6.so <=> /usr/lib/python2.6/config/libpython2.6.a
configure: WARNING: unrecognized options: --disable-static Makefile.pre.in has: all: build_all build_all: $(BUILDPYTHON) oldsharedmods sharedmods $(BUILDPYTHON): Modules/python.o $(LIBRARY) $(LDLIBRARY) where $(LIBRARY) is the static library target, $(LDLIBRARY) the dynamic one. We could change things to not build it, or we could simply delete it after linking: I've chosen to patch the Makefile.pre.in to not build it. This also affects python3; the Makefiles are similar, and an analagous fix can be applied. Fix built into rawhide for python 2 in python-2.6.4-6.fc13: http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=1930184 Fix built into rawhide for python 3 in python3-3.1.1-17.fc13: http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=1930068