[Qgis-developer] QGIS 2.0 and PyQT v2 update

[Matthias Kuhn]

We have already rendered many plugins inoperable by changing the vector 
api (and some other API's) so lots of plugins will need some love to 
get ready for 2.0.
Then there is the PyQt API V2 change which will render some more 
plugins useless.
And I was just remembering, that I've heard, that the upgrade to PyQt 
API V2 is done to be ready for Python 3. So it's probably also worth 
considering, if the PyQt version changes and python upgrade should 
happen at the same point in time. I have never upgraded code from 
Python 2 to Python 3 myself, but there seem to be some differences 
which require work to migrate.

In order to be able to plan the plugin development. Is the upgrade to 
Python 3 something which is really considered to happen in the next 
couple of years? Would it not scare too many plugin developers and 
users away, because it will require once more a considerable effort to 
update?
If Python 3 is not an option for the next couple of years, is it worth 
upgrading the PyQt API now?
Would it be better to upgrade to Python 3 right now! Because this will 
require plugin developers to go over all their code now. Once only.

I know it's quite late (with respect to the 2.0 roadmap) to bring this 
up, but I haven't really thought of it earlier and I think it's a very 
important decision.

+1 for pushing (Borys') work on the plugin installer to a high priority 
feature for 2.0

Matthias

On Sam 27 Apr 2013 19:57:50 CEST, Gary Sherman wrote:
> At the outset, this will render almost all third party plugins
> inoperable. If this change is to be made, we need to widely publicize
> the fact to users that some or perhaps all of their favorite plugins
> may be broken at the release of 2.0.
>
> It will likely take a while for many of the plugins to be upgraded to
> the v2 API. Some will probably be abandoned and stuck at 1.8. We will
> need to ensure that the plugin installer can prevent installation of
> incompatible plugins in 2.0 as well as 1.8.
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 11:53 PM, Martin Dobias <wonder.sk at gmail.com
> <mailto:wonder.sk at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 10:26 PM, Andreas Neumann
>     <a.neumann at carto.net <mailto:a.neumann at carto.net>> wrote:
>     > Hi,
>     >
>     > It has been discussed that PyQT should be updated to v2 befor
>     the QGIS
>     > 2.0 release. Is this still a feasible goal?
>     >
>     > I think it would be good to also update it before 2.0. With the new
>     > Vector API most plugin developers need to rework their plugins
>     anyway.
>     > It would be good to also do the PyQT v2 update now.
>     >
>     > It would be bad if would release QGIS 2.0 without the PyQT v2
>     update and
>     > then shortly after we would break all plugins again, because of
>     the PyQT
>     > v2 update.
>     >
>     > Is Martin the one who would work on this - or can/will others
>     work on
>     > this as well? Martin - will you have time?
>
>     I would be happy to do the switch, though I will be on holiday for the
>     next 10 days. I can have a look at it when I come back. But if there
>     is anyone willing to give it a try in meanwhile, feel free to do it
>     :-) I am attaching a diff with preliminary changes to switch to spi
>     api 2 - if anyone would like to play with it.
>
>     IIRC there are few things that need to be sorted out:
>     - dealing with QVariant::Type which is used e.g. in QgsField. Most
>     likely we can safely switch to using QMetaType::Type (QVariant is not
>     directly available anymore)
>     - take care with transition of QSettings [1]
>     - provide a shortcut that python tests and third-party scripts could
>     use for setting sip api 2 (has to be set explicitly if not running
>     within QGIS)
>     - migrate any plugin code within QGIS source tree
>
>     [1] http://pyqt.sourceforge.net/Docs/PyQt4/pyqt_qsettings.html
>
>     Regards
>     Martin
>
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>
>
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