[Debichem-devel] Avogadro 0.9.3 and python extension

[Michael Banck]

Hi,

On Tue, Apr 07, 2009 at 08:35:16PM -0700, Jordan Mantha wrote:
> OK, I've committed something that works anyway. I made a mistake above
> on the python dep. I just dep'd on python2.5 so that we get the
> default python version (which is used to build the extension. I tested
> the .dep out and it works fine. I tried importing from python 2.6 and
> that doesn't work but it does from python 2.5 . It's not as nice as
> having a public extension but I think until the API stabilizes I don't
> think it's a bad idea to keep it private anyway. If either Michael or
> Daniel will look over my changes and they look ok feel free to upload.

I discussed this a bit with Jordan on IRC the other day, and we came up
with this sort-of plan:

 1. Short-term, just hardcode python2.5 and make it depend on this.

 2. Middle-term, use the respective python default version and make it
    binNMU-able for python transitions.

 3. Long-term, make it a regular python module and build it for all
    supported python versions.

The long-term goal only needs to be done when Avogadro's python bindings
actually get used by 3rd party software and/or become very popular.

The short-term goal is what we have now in subversion.

The current state looks good here as well, except for some somewhat
annoying debug output when I start it from an xterm each time the
molecule is rendered (e.g.  while rotating it):

('paint(', <Avogadro.GLWidget object at 0xb2f8c41c>, ')')

If I remove/move away Avogadro.so from the python directory, the above
is no longer output into the terminal.

I think I'm done now with the OpenBabel and Avogadro changes for MOLPRO
vibrations/orbitals; if nobody else has any pending changes, I will do
an upload over/after easter.


cheers,

Michael