Using python + pygtk in Desktop modules (was Re: Revisiting the Gnome Bindings)

["Murray Cumming" <murrayc murrayc com>]

Jonathan said:
> I would love to see limited use of python in the desktop release for
> GNOME 2.10.

I'd love to see whether this idea can fly, and I like the idea of
maintainers getting what they need for their own specific modules.

We all have our different favourite languages, but I think we are all
capable of hacking on Python even if we don't all love it [1], so I don't
think its use would prevent contributions. And it's already widespread on
distros, so I don't think it would be adding a big new dependency. [2]

I have some practical concerns about the binding support. Jonathan and
Thomas, in your proposed cases, would pygtk be enough for you, or do you
need to use API that is not just in GTK+ and libglade. For instance, would
you need API-stable gnome-vfs and gconf bindings? If those are not
available to you, can you workaround it by using C directly from python?

By the way, these python bindings are not necessarily unavailable, but you
should make your requirements clear, because someone has to support them
and keep them on the GNOME schedule.

I realise that a Desktop module's dependencies don't need to be API-stable
(for instance, gstreamer), but I think that a widely-used dependency
probably should be, like any "development platform".


[1] I am a strongtypist. It makes me happy.

[2] I can imagine two objections:
  a) People who want GNOME to use one true runtime, such as Mono, for all
high-level languages, might think that this takes us further away from
that possibility. But if the one true runtime can really support Python
without major changes to application code, then the ideas do not seem to
be incompatible.
  b) People who love the C# language might think that Python is a
competitor. But both languages are popular, and will continue to be for
a long time.

Murray Cumming
murrayc murrayc com
www.murrayc.com
www.openismus.com