[maemo-developers] PyMaemo (Python for maemo) beta release for Fremantle

[From: Anderson Lizardo]

[cross-posting to pymaemo-developers and maemo-developers]
Hi,

We are pleased to announce the beta release of PyMaemo for Fremantle!

This new release is available through the extras-devel repository, see
installation instructions in
http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/sdk_installation.html#fremantle

What is it?
----------
Python for Maemo (PyMaemo for short) main objective is to make
possible to use Python programming language as the scripting and
development language for maemo Platform, providing a better
alternative for fast prototyping and programming in maemo environment
besides the C programming language.

Python is for serious programming and to have fun. Python has a nice
syntax, it is easy to learn and powerful enough for a vast range of
applications, this is why we choose Python for Maemo.

What has changed?
---------------

Our bugzilla has moved to bugs.maemo.org [9]

New packages:
* gst0.10-python (0.10.14-2maemo3)
  + the maemo version available in the fremantle SDK repository
followed the old packaging. We uploaded a new version following the
new packaging, and removing the dependency on python-libxml2 (not
available in maemo).
* pyid3lib (0.5.1-2maemo2)
  + restored package since MB#4235 [2] was fixed.

Updated packages:
* pygame (1.8.1release-0maemo3)
  + major upgrade, to match current upstream release
  + feedback on this is welcome, as it should be very different from
the (very) older 1.7.1 release.
* python-support (1.0.2maemo1)
  + fixes issues related to Python:Depends parsing
* python-conic (0.1-5)
  + fix small bug due to new versioning in fremantle beta (+mN suffix)
* pycurl (7.18.2-1)
  + libcurl was updated to 7.18.2 in fremantle, thus requiring updates
to the binding
* python2.5 (2.5.2-15maemo2)
  + temporarily drop sqlite3 support, see MB#4530 [1]
* pygtk (2.12.1-6maemo6)
  + fixes to hildon support.
  + depend on newer python-support (fixes missing dependency issues)
* python-hildon (0.9.0-1maemo4)
  + bumped binding version due to the API changes. Note that API
updates are not finished yet, and will be in a next release.
  + packaging cleanup
  + remove unused dependencies on hildonhelp and hildondesktop
(related to the home applets, not supported in python-hildon)

Bugs fixed: MB#4426 [4], GB#4008 [5], GB#2051 [6], MB#4235 [2]

Known issues
-----------------

* python-hildon lacks some of the new API for fremantle. For this
release, only the deprecated API (not available on the C API) was
removed. We are working on updating the package to the new API and
should provide a new version soon.
* MB#4492 [3]: Adding a hildon.AppMenu to a hildon.StackableWindow
does not increase the refcount
* MB#4530 [1]: sqlite module currently does not work
* Initial experimentation on actual OMAP3 hardware (beagle board
running fremantle [7]) shows that overall installed size (as installed
by the "python-runtime" metapackage) of PyMaemo is around 43 MB. For
the final release, we intend to reduce more this size.
* The packages were tested on actual hardware, but only to verify
installation. We expect the community to provide feedback on this
release and report any runtime issues.

This release is supposed to be compatible with previous releases. If
you have any issues regarding building your Python application on
fremantle, feel free to report it on the pymaemo-developers mailing list [8].

Acknowledgments:
-----------------

Thanks to everybody who helped making this release possible.

Bug reports, as always, should go to our Bugzilla [9]. Use the
pymaemo-developers mailing list for help, feedback or suggestions.

References
--------------

[1] https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4530
[2] https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4235
[3] https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4492
[4] https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4426
[5] https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=4008&group_id=40&atid=229
[6] https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=2051&group_id=40&atid=229
[7] http://maemo-beagle.garage.maemo.org/
[8] https://garage.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/pymaemo-developers
[9] https://bugs.maemo.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=PyMaemo

Thanks,
-- 
Anderson Lizardo
OpenBossa Labs - INdT
Manaus - Brazil