From d1ac334eb7c6a6d8a1d5d8525001bbd981fc51d9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Zanie Blue <contact@zanie.dev>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:00:05 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] gh-119696: Add an experimental relocatable configure flag

---
 Doc/using/configure.rst                       | 11 ++++++
 Makefile.pre.in                               |  1 +
 ...-10-22-18-00-00.gh-issue-119696.r3Flag.rst |  2 ++
 configure                                     | 34 +++++++++++++++++++
 configure.ac                                  | 15 ++++++++
 pyconfig.h.in                                 |  3 ++
 6 files changed, 66 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-22-18-00-00.gh-issue-119696.r3Flag.rst

diff --git a/Doc/using/configure.rst b/Doc/using/configure.rst
index 0d420d80f8e261..2cc8e94ebf075c 100644
--- a/Doc/using/configure.rst
+++ b/Doc/using/configure.rst
@@ -1073,6 +1073,17 @@ Linker options
 
    Enable building a shared Python library: ``libpython`` (default is no).
 
+.. option:: --enable-relocatable
+
+   Enable experimental support for relocatable builds (default is no).
+   This option currently has no effect on the build.
+
+   .. warning::
+
+      This feature is under active development. Do not use it in production.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.16
+
 .. option:: --without-static-libpython
 
    Do not build ``libpythonMAJOR.MINOR.a`` and do not install ``python.o``
diff --git a/Makefile.pre.in b/Makefile.pre.in
index 36515dbd146a1e..7dcfc455797696 100644
--- a/Makefile.pre.in
+++ b/Makefile.pre.in
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ DSYMUTIL=       @DSYMUTIL@
 DSYMUTIL_PATH=  @DSYMUTIL_PATH@
 
 GNULD=		@GNULD@
+RELOCATABLE=	@RELOCATABLE@
 
 # Shell used by make (some versions default to the login shell, which is bad)
 SHELL=		/bin/sh -e
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-22-18-00-00.gh-issue-119696.r3Flag.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-22-18-00-00.gh-issue-119696.r3Flag.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..328d94c1094e4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-22-18-00-00.gh-issue-119696.r3Flag.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Add the experimental :option:`--enable-relocatable` configure option.
+The option currently has no effect on the build.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index c777d8117c66c4..9ab251a0fe22ee 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -960,6 +960,7 @@ LINK_PYTHON_DEPS
 LIBRARY_DEPS
 HOSTRUNNER
 NODE
+RELOCATABLE
 STATIC_LIBPYTHON
 GNULD
 EXPORTSFROM
@@ -1107,6 +1108,7 @@ enable_shared
 with_static_libpython
 enable_static_libpython_for_interpreter
 enable_profiling
+enable_relocatable
 enable_gil
 with_pydebug
 with_trace_refs
@@ -1859,6 +1861,8 @@ Optional Features:
                           library)
   --enable-profiling      enable C-level code profiling with gprof (default is
                           no)
+  --enable-relocatable    enable experimental relocatable build support
+                          (default is no)
   --disable-gil           enable support for running without the GIL (default
                           is no)
   --enable-pystats        enable internal statistics gathering (default is no)
@@ -7937,6 +7941,36 @@ if test "x$enable_profiling" = xyes; then
   LDFLAGS="-pg $LDFLAGS"
 fi
 
+{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for --enable-relocatable" >&5
+printf %s "checking for --enable-relocatable... " >&6; }
+# Check whether --enable-relocatable was given.
+if test ${enable_relocatable+y}
+then :
+  enableval=$enable_relocatable;
+else case e in #(
+  e) enable_relocatable=no ;;
+esac
+fi
+
+case $enable_relocatable in #(
+  yes|no) :
+     ;; #(
+  *) :
+    as_fn_error $? "--enable-relocatable must be yes or no" "$LINENO" 5 ;;
+esac
+{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $enable_relocatable" >&5
+printf "%s\n" "$enable_relocatable" >&6; }
+if test "x$enable_relocatable" = xyes
+then :
+
+
+printf "%s\n" "#define Py_ENABLE_RELOCATABLE 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+
+fi
+RELOCATABLE=$enable_relocatable
+
+
 { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking LDLIBRARY" >&5
 printf %s "checking LDLIBRARY... " >&6; }
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a8760c94ac151a..1afbeba002bbbf 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1594,6 +1594,21 @@ if test "x$enable_profiling" = xyes; then
   LDFLAGS="-pg $LDFLAGS"
 fi
 
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([for --enable-relocatable])
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([relocatable],
+  AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-relocatable],
+                 [enable experimental relocatable build support (default is no)]),
+  [], [enable_relocatable=no])
+AS_CASE([$enable_relocatable],
+  [yes|no], [],
+  [AC_MSG_ERROR([--enable-relocatable must be yes or no])])
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$enable_relocatable])
+AS_VAR_IF([enable_relocatable], [yes], [
+  AC_DEFINE([Py_ENABLE_RELOCATABLE], [1],
+            [Define if --enable-relocatable is used.])
+])
+AC_SUBST([RELOCATABLE], [$enable_relocatable])
+
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([LDLIBRARY])
 
 # Apple framework builds need more magic. LDLIBRARY is the dynamic
diff --git a/pyconfig.h.in b/pyconfig.h.in
index 08306a1dc8ba13..4fb029a6756e3c 100644
--- a/pyconfig.h.in
+++ b/pyconfig.h.in
@@ -1880,6 +1880,9 @@
 /* Define if you want to build an interpreter with many run-time checks. */
 #undef Py_DEBUG
 
+/* Define if --enable-relocatable is used. */
+#undef Py_ENABLE_RELOCATABLE
+
 /* Defined if Python is built as a shared library. */
 #undef Py_ENABLE_SHARED