[chirp_devel] Python 3 is *still* not supported?

[Charlie Li]

Martin Cooper via chirp_devel wrote:
> I think one of the main sticking points to a complete Python 3 version 
> of Chirp is the GUI. With the py3 branch, Chirp is moving to wxPython 
> (wxWidgets), and really, nobody has stepped up to do significant work on 
> that. A start has been made for clone-mode radios, but when I looked 
> into it with a live-mode radio some time ago, it seemed to me that there 
> were design ideas in place, but not enough hints to pick those up and 
> run with them - at least not for someone largely unfamiliar with 
> wxPython, like me. There also seemed to be some other design changes to 
> the way the GUI works that are probably not directly related to wxPython.
> 
I still run a revision of the py3 mercurial branch from February 2020 
with only some minor syntax changes with the GTK-based GUI. PyGObject3 
has a compatibility mode with pygtk2 so most functionality still works 
without modification.

The bigger issues I would say are more procedural than purely technical. 
Unfortunately, the patch guidelines, if strictly enforced without 
exception, are not conducive to allowing large-scale compatibility fixes 
with Python 3 in one or a few commits, if we are to have working builds 
for both major Python versions every commit. That is not to mention 
intervening driver updates and additions, which seem like a higher priority.

Additionally, the Python packaging world has a new paradigm called 
PEP-517. Most notably, setup.py is deprecated, pyproject.toml takes its 
place and setuptools's role becomes one of many build tools to choose 
from rather than the end-all of Python packaging.
> A decent amount of the py3 codebase does work, though. For example, I 
> got to the point where I can use chirpc (the CLI version) to read and 
> write memories with my live-mode radio. So the core functionality is 
> there, for at least some drivers. (I know a few other folks have worked 
> on drivers for their specific radios too.)
> 
Confirmed, at least for baofeng_common.

-- 
Charlie Li
K3CL
hamradio at FreeBSD

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