kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/23/2017 10:17 AM, miles mccoo wrote:
> 
> In a recent thread
> <https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg31700.html> on this
> list, it was mentioned that kicad may need to drop support for
> SWIG/Python due to wx and wxPython limitations.
> 
> Perhaps I misinterpreted what was said.
> It's my perception that the kicad team doesn't see the value in a python
> interface that I see
> <https://kicad.mmccoo.com/2017/01/26/real-scripting-the-most-important-feature-a-tool-can-have/>.
> Perhaps I'm wrong in that too

We have no intention of removing python support.  The issue becomes is
will we have the manpower to convert over to Phoenix or will we keep the
current wxpython implementation.

> 
> Anyway, I have a version of kicad working with wxPython 4.0 (AKA Phoenix)
> 
> A more detailed summary can be read here on my blog
> <https://kicad.mmccoo.com/2017/11/23/learnings-from-moving-kicad-to-wxpython-4-0/> and
> a diff file of my changes is
> here: http://mmccoo.com/random/diffs_for_phoenix
> 
> 
> The short version: Kicad will probably want to wait to move to the
> Phoenix version of wxPython.

Not until they are package in Debian stable.  This is my litmus test for
availability of new dependencies.  I do not want kicad to be in the
business of building dependencies.  We have already traveled down that
road and it was not a fun journey.

> 
> The main issue is that the Phoenix equivalent of wx/wxPython/wxPython.h
> (called from pcbnew/swig/python_scripting.h) exists, but isn't in the
> releases yet. See here
> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/wxpython-users/rIwPMKjQBeI>.
> 
> Beyond that, I had some difficulties ensuring that the correct wx and
> wxPython versions are installed and used[1]
> 
> Once I did get it running, my kicad python scripts all work (save for
> the things that broke since last time I updated kicad). 

Do you scripts involve accessing the pcb in the current session of
pcbnew or include running the UI based python scripts (footprint
generator) included with Kicad?  I'm guessing phoenix will have no
effect on non-UI scripts.  If phoenix is working already with UI code,
then perhaps the switch will not be such an issue.

> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Having said all that, I don't know that there is urgency to move to
> Phoenix. AFAIK, wxPython 3.0 works fine with recent wxWidgets.
> 
> 
> Hope it's helpful.
> Miles
> 
> PS - AFAIK, the patch that triggered mention of dumping python due to
> wxPython still hasn't been denied or merged. :-)
> https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg31700.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [1] on ubuntu, unstalling wxwidget package didn't remove the wxwidgets
> libraries. It's quite possible that I was just confused and/or doing it
> wrong. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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