[maemo-developers] PyMaemo (Python for Maemo) final release for Maemo 5 (Fremantle)

[From: Anderson Lizardo]

Hi,

The PyMaemo team is pleased to announce the final release of PyMaemo
for Maemo 5!

For users, no manual installation steps are necessary. If you want to
enjoy Python on your tablet, simply install a Python application from
the repository.

For developers which want to try the latest versions of PyMaemo
packages, make sure to add extras-devel repository to the Scratchbox
target and/or tablet. For instructions, see
http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/installation.html. Due to the auto
promotion of dependencies in Fremantle, many packages have their
latest versions in extras-testing/extras already, but some are still
on extras-devel only.

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?
---------------

Removed packages:

* libffi
+ Now installed by default on N900

* pyid3lib
+ Unmaintained upstream, not used by any package in Fremantle

Updated packages:

* pygobject 2.16.1-1maemo1
+ Update to latest version from Ubuntu jaunty
* pygtk 2.12.1-6maemo9
+ Update gtk.Dialog with Maemo changes
* python-hildondesktop 0.1.0-1maemo1
+ Bump version due to (unavoidable) API changes.
+ Fix current maintainers in AUTHORS and debian/copyright.
* python-setuptools 0.6c9-1maemo2
+ make easy_install always be called with the default Python version
(/usr/bin/pythonX.Y)
* python-xml 0.8.4-10.1maemo4
+ Integrate fixes for python2.6 (taken from Ubuntu jaunty)
  (NOTE: this is just a compatibility fix, Fremantle will only have python2.5)

Bugs fixed:

MB#5091, MB#5141, MB#5154, MB#5232, MB#5275, MB#5467

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

python-mafw (Python bindings for MAFW) is still considered alpha
quality, and there are a couple of known issues on it:
MB#4824: python-mafw: source_browsing.py example does not work
MB#4839: python-mafw: mafw.Registry lacks list_plugins() method
MB#4849: python-mafw: MafwPluginDescriptorPublic structure is missing
MB#4919: python-mafw: list of missing types to complete methods bindings
MB#4932: python-mafw: mafw.Source.browse() method is missing
MB#4934: python-mafw: MetaData class missing

There are no bindings for GUPnP (MB#4829), libhildonmime (MB#5157),
liblocation (MB#5748) as well for various other Maemo 5 components. We
plan to work on providing bindings for these components during the
Maemo 5 life cycle.

The PyMaemo base set of packages take considerable storage space
(MB#5364). We already started experiments with the "maemo-optify" tool
to install biggest things out of root fs, and we also plan to reduce a
plenty of storage usage by cutting unnecessary things (such as some
remaining documentation). Expect next releases to reduce storage usage
gradually.

We will not migrate to python2.6 in Maemo 5 due to a (unresolved) bug
(MB#4734), where a core SDK package explicitly conflicts with python
>= 2.6, preventing any further upgrades from the 2.5.x series.

This release is supposed to be compatible with previous releases. If
you have any issues regarding building or running your Python
application on Maemo 5, feel free to contact us (see below for how to
contact the PyMaemo team and report bugs).

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

Thanks to everybody who helped making this release possible.

Bug reports, as always, should go to our Bugzilla [1]. Use the
pymaemo-developers mailing list [2] for help, feedback or suggestions.

References
--------------
[1] https://bugs.maemo.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=PyMaemo
[2] https://garage.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/pymaemo-developers

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