We're getting the same on x86-64. http://hydra.nixos.org/build/11113443/nixlog/1/tail-reload
Exactly the same build works with python-3.3.5.

Ah, LFS patches solved that for me. http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/general/python-modules.html#pycairo

We're getting exactly this crash now when trying to build py3cairo on Ubuntu.  I filed https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91561 which seemed to fix the problem at first, but it's back now, and unless the patches linked in comment 2 have changed or I'm looking in the wrong place, they do not fix the problem (I also have a hard time seeing how they could, but waflib is a mystery to me atm).

I've also recently encountered this problem on NetBSD 7.0/i386 with Python 3.5 (3.4 didn't exhibit this issue for me):

  File "/home/disciple/pkgsrc/graphics/py-cairo3/work/pycairo-1.10.0/.waf3-1.6.4-e3c1e08604b18a10567cfcd2d02eb6e6/waflib/Build.py", line 164, in store
    cPickle.dump(data,f)
AttributeError: Can't pickle local object 'Context.__init__.<locals>.node_class'
Checking for library python3.5 in LIBPATH_PYEMBED : *** Error code 2

While it doesn't address the underlying cause, my workaround to get it to build was this:

--- .waf3-1.6.4-e3c1e08604b18a10567cfcd2d02eb6e6/waflib/Build.py.orig       2011-03-29 10:52:54.000000000 -0400
+++ .waf3-1.6.4-e3c1e08604b18a10567cfcd2d02eb6e6/waflib/Build.py        
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@
                        try:
                                f=open(db+'.tmp','wb')
                                cPickle.dump(data,f)
+                       except AttributeError as err:
+                               print(format(err))
                        finally:
                                if f:
                                        f.close()

This allows the build to complete, while still exposing that there's something quirky happening in the dependent waf code. A comparison of output from 3.4 (no pre-existing issue) and 3.5 (after my patch) shows that the build process is still able to determine what it needs to in order to continue despite the multiple exceptions thrown.

Python 3.4.3:

  ./configure()
Checking for 'gcc' (c compiler)          : ok 
Checking for program python              : /usr/pkg/bin/python3.4 
Checking for python version              : (3, 4, 3, 'final', 0) 
Checking for library python3.4 in LIBPATH_PYEMBED : yes 
Checking for program python3.4-config             : /usr/pkg/bin/python3.4-config 
Checking for header Python.h                      : yes 
Checking for program pkg-config                   : /home/disciple/pkgsrc/graphics/py-cairo3/work/.tools/bin/pkg-config 
Checking for 'cairo' >= 1.10.0                    : yes 
Configuration:
PREFIX                                   : /usr/pkg
LIBDIR                                   : /usr/pkg/lib
'configure' finished successfully (7.213s)

Python 3.5.1:

  ./configure()
Checking for 'gcc' (c compiler)          : ok 
Checking for program python              : /usr/pkg/bin/python3.5 
Checking for python version              : (3, 5, 1, 'final', 0) 
Can't pickle local object 'Context.__init__.<locals>.node_class'
Checking for library python3.5 in LIBPATH_PYEMBED : yes 
Checking for program python3.5-config             : /usr/pkg/bin/python3.5-config 
Can't pickle local object 'Context.__init__.<locals>.node_class'
Checking for header Python.h                      : yes 
Checking for program pkg-config                   : /home/disciple/pkgsrc/graphics/py-cairo3/work/.tools/bin/pkg-config 
Checking for 'cairo' >= 1.10.0                    : yes 
Configuration:
PREFIX                                   : /usr/pkg
LIBDIR                                   : /usr/pkg/lib
'configure' finished successfully (7.036s)

The basic test suite passes for me after building.

======================================================== test session starts =========================================================
platform netbsd7 -- Python 3.5.1, pytest-2.8.3, py-1.4.30, pluggy-0.3.1
rootdir: /home/disciple/pkgsrc/graphics/py-cairo3/work/pycairo-1.10.0/test, inifile: 
collected 7 items 

api_test.py ......
examples_test.py .

====================================================== 7 passed in 3.72 seconds ======================================================

So while it's not the most elegant solution, I can get it to build. Whether this workaround would address everyone else's problems I don't know.

Someone's just pointed out to me that FreeBSD handled this problem a bit differently, by simply disabling the entire function that's an issue.

https://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/graphics/py3-cairo/files/pycairo-1.10.0-waf-py3_5.patch?revision=401900&view=markup

(To each their own.)

Since 1.11 pycairo uses distutils for building. If there are any problems with the new system please file a bug: https://github.com/pygobject/pycairo/issues

*** Bug 91561 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***