Gnu/Linux dialogue boxes in python

[Jorgen Grahn]

On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:18:45 +0200, Donn Ingle <donn.ingle at gmail.com> wrote:
>> But why?  Either
>> 
>> (a) your program has a GUI and can display a dialogue box by itself
>> (b) your program has a GUI but has problems opening even a tiny part
>> of it (missing modules?), and should output diagnostics on the terminal
>> (c) your program is console-based, or a daemon or something, and should
>> not require a GUI to work.
>> 
> I realise those things, and it's the simplest case. 
>
>  I was thinking of <a yet unknown, to me, way to> allow a setup.py file to
> be double-clicked and have the install start to run. When it comes to the
> bit where all the import statements happen, it can popup a stock dialogue
> informing the user about what they need to install first.

But does "setup.py install" really trigger any of your code's imports?
I must admit I haven't give it much thought.

Somehow this seems like setup.py's job, and if it cannot do it maybe
someone should invent an alternative.

Or maybe it's setup.py's job to create a suitable distribution:

./setup.py --help-commands
  ...
  bdist            create a built (binary) distribution
  bdist_dumb       create a "dumb" built distribution
  bdist_rpm        create an RPM distribution
  bdist_wininst    create an executable installer for MS Windows
	
"bdist_wininst" has a very nice GUI.  But I doubt that you can
make it warn for unmet dependencies.

>  Another thing to realize, and I have experienced this first-hand, is that a
> bunch of text, no matter how nicely formatted, spewed out of an app in
> white on black ( the usual terminal colours ) does *not* invite a user's
> attention. To read it is a chore and they usually panic.

I have experienced it too. I have tried to understand it, and failed.
Do they read books and newspapers? They are generally not stupid.


So what you really want is a nice GUI Python installer for Linux,
which everyone can use, and which can explain to users that they need
some other packages first.  Yes, that sounds like a very reasonable
thing to want.


/Jorgen

-- 
  // Jorgen Grahn <grahn@        Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu
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