[Python-ideas] python on mobile

[Russell Keith-Magee]

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 11:16 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org>
wrote:
>
> Fetchinson . writes:
>
>  > > I'm not sure exactly what would be discussed [on mobile-sig],
>  > > especially in the short term when the big ticket item is getting
>  > > the patches into the main Python tree.
>
> It probably matters more that there *is* substantive discussion than
> *what* is discussed.  There are probably a lot of people who are far
> more interested in "how to do 'it' *now*" than "get 'it' into the main
> Python tree 'someday'", for example.
>

I'm not sure if a mailing list would help with this as much as a good,
simple set of docs. It's not like there's unknown territory here; once
you've got Python installed on a mobile device, the "how" is reasonably
easy. The catch is that someone with Python experience won't necessarily
have experience managing a cross-platform C/Automake build, which is what
you need to get Python installed in the first place.

However, once someone provides a binary for Python, others can just use
that binary. That's what I've done with my platform support libraries and
templates; they're a set of step-by-step instructions for going from a
clean sheet to a running Python install.

Again, I'm not claiming my code is complete and production ready - just
that this is an achievable goal IMHO, and my intention is to document
"getting Python working" independent of getting any particular platform
working. To my mind, while this *could* be maintained as an external set of
patches etc, it makes sense to get the patches into the main source tree.

 > I'd think the core devs would be far more likely to include a patch
>  > if it comes with a big red note on it saying "it was discussed on
>  > mobile-sig and was blessed by all participants" as opposed to a
>  > random patch by a random person.
>
> Nope.  It helps somewhat to have consensus backing for a particular
> patch by the (random) interested parties, but not that much.  What
> helps a lot is to get someone trusted to have a good sense for
> "Pythonicity" and known to have experience in getting patches
> committed as spokesman.
>
> IIUC correctly it is Russ's opinion that his set of patches is not
> very invasive and wouldn't fall afoul of disturbing some other
> applications or platforms.  If so, the real problem is to get core
> attention.
>

That is correct. There are a couple of tweaks needed to improve cross
platform build support, a couple of tweaks introducing sys.platform support
for iOS and Android, and some other miscellaneous patches to correct
support for individual features. There's a bunch of little changes
required, but it's not a big patch by any measure.

Although it's a couple of months off, I would suggest a talk (if it's
> still possible to schedule), a BOF, and a sprint at Pycon North
> America in March.  That should get things moving, and several of the
> "important" folks who have already expressed interest should be there,
> too.
>

Unfortunately, due to the tyranny of distance (I'm based on the west coast
of Australia), plus work commitments, it's unlikely that I'll be attending
PyCon in Montreal.

Yours,
Russ Magee %-)
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