[Kde-bindings] Re: py(Qt|KDE) and KDE CVS

[Simon Edwards]

Hello all,

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 02:32 am, Richard Dale wrote:
> But obviously I would be very pleased to see PyQt/PyKDE in 
> kdebindings. On the other hand, if it was checked into anther module it 
would 
> be sending out the clear message that kdebindings are a pile of 
> non-production quality crap.

I'll try to explain the reasoning for wanting to have the python bindings 
distributed separately from a monolithic kde-bindings tar ball. (It is not in 
order to distance python from "non-production quality crap" in 
kdebindings. ;-) so don't worry.) What I'm about to say most likely also 
applies to other languages and bindings too.

Ok, what recently became obvious to me was that developers who wanted to use 
python with KDE, or had started to, switch to C++ in order to eliminate any 
dependancy on bindings for the benifit of the end user. Anything other than 
C++ on KDE is viewed as not being serious enough, or a well supported enough 
platform on which to develop. Which is a bit out of sync with reality, 
Python, Ruby program etc can be distributed easily and run without even 
requiring a recompile on different platforms. But the "image" problem 
remains.

Distro support for kdebindings appears to be spotty. Mandrake don't package 
it. FreeBSD don't either. By wanting the python bindings tarballs to be 
distributed as one self contained 'blob' with dependancies only on python and 
C++, it would be much much easier to for people and packagers to build and 
package. 

Conectiva 9 have kdebindings-c-devel, kdebindings-csharp-devel, 
kdebindings-ruby-devel etc packages. And I think it makes sense for bindings 
to be distributed not as one large tarball, but on a language by language 
basis.

Corrections and comments are welcome. I still have every intention of 
maintaining an easy to build/use copy of PyQt and PyKDE in KDE CVS 
(somewhere ;-) ). I'm just a bit concerned about whether packagers will pick 
them up.

Tell me that I'm overreacting or just plain wrong. ;-)

Why do I only see KDE programs written in C++?

cheers,

-- 
Simon Edwards             | Guarddog Firewall
simon at simonzone.com       | http://www.simonzone.com/software/
Nijmegen, The Netherlands | "ZooTV? You made the right choice."