Re: PyGobject / GTK+ 3 support

[John Palmieri <johnp redhat com>]

----- Original Message -----
> Hello Jérôme,
>
> On 2012-02-02, Jérôme <jerome jolimont fr> wrote:
> > Hi all.
> >
> > I learnt python/GTK using PyGTK.
> >
> > Then I read on http://pygtk.org/ that "new users wishing to develop
> > Python
> > applications using GTK+ are recommended to use the
> > GObject-Introspection
> > features available in PyGObject", and that "existing authors of
> > PyGTK
> > applications are also recommended to port their applications to
> > PyGObject to
> > take advantage of new features appearing in GTK-3 and beyond."
> >
> > Does using PyGobject necessary mean doing GTK+ 3 ?
>
> No. You can write GTK+ 2 applications using PyGObject. There is a
> special require_version() function in the `gi` package that you can
> use to specify the version of GTK+ that PyGObject will bind for.
>
> Here is a complete example of a PyGObject program that uses GTK+ 2
> (adapted from
> <http://readthedocs.org/docs/python-gtk-3-tutorial/en/latest/introduction.html#extended-example>):
>
>
> import gi
> gi.require_version("Gtk", "2.0")
>
> from gi.repository import Gtk
>
> class MyWindow(Gtk.Window):
>     def __init__(self):
>         Gtk.Window.__init__(self, title="Hello World")
>
>         self.button = Gtk.Button(label="Click Here")
>         self.button.connect("clicked", self.on_button_clicked)
>         self.add(self.button)
>
>     def on_button_clicked(self, widget):
>         print "Hello World"
>
> win = MyWindow()
> win.connect("delete-event", Gtk.main_quit)
> win.show_all()
> Gtk.main()

However, you must be aware that Gtk+ 2 is not supported and there are places where the annotations are seriously lacking.  We still suggest PyGtk for Gtk+2 applications.

> > PyGObject webpage says "If you want to use PyGObject to write GTK+
> > 3
> > applications [...]". Like you can use it not to write GTK+ 3
> > applications.
> > Yet, there's a little documentation for GTK+ 3 programming, but I
> > didn't
> > find
> > any for GTK+ 2.
> >
> > From what I have gathered, PyGObject / GTK+ 3 seems a bit "bleeding
> > edge" at
> > this time :
> >
> > I think it does not work on debian squeeze (stable), for instance.
> > python-gobject version is 2.21.4 and I get the following error :
> > "No module named gi.repository".
> >
> > Can someone please confirm it does not work ? It could be my
> > mistake.
>
> I believe that Debian Squeeze's python-gobject package is still
> PyGTK.
> Unfortunately, Debian Squeeze / stable does not have either of the
> PyGObject packages: python-gi for Python 2.x and python3-gi for
> Python
> 3. It looks like Wheezy / testing will be the first version of Debian
> to include PyGObject. As usual, Debian Sid / unstable has both
> packages.
>
> > (I know debian stable is not bleeding-edge itself, but if one
> > starts a
> > project today, he may expect his program to run on it. I didn't
> > check other
> > distros, assuming it would be about the same.)
> >
> > Which version of python-gobject is needed for import gi.repository
> > to work ?
>
> From what I understand, PyGObject reads the compiled Typelib files
> (binaries) to figure out the interface to expose. On my AMD64 Fedora
> 15 system, these are located in /usr/lib64/girepository-1.0. On
> Debian
> systems, they are located in /usr/lib/girepository-1.0.
>
> Your version of PyGObject is independent of the version of GTK+,
> GObject, etc.
>
> > I understand debian package for PyGObject, pyghon-gobject, was
> > renamed to
> > python-gi starting from version 3, but it is still PyGObject. Is
> > this
> > correct ? (Is this 3 as in GTK 3 ?)
>
> python-gi is PyGObject for Python 2.x. python3-gi is PyGObject for
> Python 3.
>
> > Now, concerning windows porting, the installers on PyGobject
> > webpage go up
> > to
> > 2.28 : http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/binaries/win32/pygobject/
> >
> > Does this mean applications using GTK+ 3 (gi.repository) won't run
> > either ?
> >
> > Where can I find information about PyGObject / GTK+ 3 support on
> > all
> > platforms (current stage, roadmap,...) ?
> >
> > Should I understand that it is advised to use PyGObject instead of
> > PyGTK,
> > but
> > not to use GTK+ 3 ? If so, how ?
>
> Please see my example above for an example PyGObject program that
> uses GTK+ 2.
>
> > Or is the advice of the community to use GTK+ 3 and to wait for (or
> > contribute to...) its full support ?
> >
> > I'm afraid I come in the middle of a huge change from GTK+ 2 to
> > GTK+ 3, when
> > things are in a state where GTK+ 3 is recommended, yet too early.
> > Just like
> > we
> > had to bear with GTK+ 1 applications in GTK+ 2 environments for a
> > while, as
> > the porting was not trivial. For instance, glade 3.10 dropped GTK+
> > 2
> > support,
> > expecting everyone to work with GTK+ 3 (or keeping both versions
> > installed,
> > if their distribution allows it).
> >
> > Sorry if those are FAQ, but I've been searching already, and this
> > whole
> > thing is still unclear to me.
> >
> > --
> > Jérôme
>
>
> I hope that helps to clear up the confusion.
>
> Daniel Trebbien
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