Mailman 3 July 2006 - Python-announce-list

cx_Freeze 3.0.3
by Anthony Tuininga 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

What is cx_Freeze? cx_Freeze is a set of utilities for freezing Python scripts into executables using many of the techniques found in Thomas Heller's py2exe, Gordon McMillan's Installer and the Freeze utility that ships with Python itself. Where do I get it? http://starship.python.net/crew/atuining What's new? 1) In Common.c, used MAXPATHLEN defined in the Python OS independent include file rather than the PATH_MAX define which is OS dependent and is not available on IRIX as noted by Andrew Jones. 2) In the initscript ConsoleSetLibPath.py, added lines from initscript Console.py that should have been there since the only difference between that script and this one is the automatic re-execution of the executable. 3) Added an explicit "import encodings" to the initscripts in order to handle Unicode encodings a little better. Thanks to Ralf Schmitt for pointing out the problem and its solution. 4) Generated a meaningful name for the extension loader script so that it is clear which particular extension module is being loaded when an exception is being raised. 5) In MakeFrozenBases.py, use distutils to figure out a few more platform-dependent linker flags as suggested by Ralf Schmitt.

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ctypes 0.9.9.9 released
by Thomas Heller 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

ctypes 0.9.9.9 released - July 21, 2006 ======================================= Overview ctypes is an advanced ffi (Foreign Function Interface) package for Python 2.3 and higher. ctypes allows to call functions exposed from dlls/shared libraries and has extensive facilities to create, access and manipulate simple and complicated C data types in Python - in other words: wrap libraries in pure Python. It is even possible to implement C callback functions in pure Python. ctypes runs on Windows, Windows CE, MacOS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD. It may also run on other systems, provided that libffi supports this platform. Changes in 0.9.9.9 Index checking on 1-sized arrays was reintroduced, so they can no longer be used as variable sized data. Assigning None to pointer type structure fields possible overwrote wrong fields. Fixed a segfault when ctypes.wintypes were imported on non-Windows machines. Accept any integer or long value in the ctypes.c_void_p constructor. It is now possible to use custom objects in the ctypes foreign function argtypes sequence as long as they provide a from_param method, no longer is it required that the object is a ctypes type. ctypes can now be built with MingW on Windows, but it will not catch access violations then since MingW does no structured exception handling. Sync the darwin/x86 port libffi with the copy in PyObjC. This fixes a number of bugs in that port. The most annoying ones were due to some subtle differences between the document ABI and the actual implementation :-( Release the GIL during COM method calls, to avoid deadlocks in Python coded COM objects. Changes in 0.9.9.7 Fixes for 64-bit big endian machines. It is now possible to read and write any index of pointer instances (up to 0.9.9.6, reading was allowed for any index, but writing only for index zero). Support for unnamed (anonymous) structure fields has been added, the field names must be listed in the '_anonymous_' class variable. Fields of unnamed structure fields can be accessed directly from the parent structure. Enabled darwin/x86 support for libffi (Bob Ippolito and Ronald Oussuren). Added support for variable sized data structures: array types with exactly 1 element don't do bounds checking any more, and a resize function can resize the internal memory buffer of ctypes instances. Fixed a bug with certain array or structure types that contained more than 256 elements. Changes in 0.9.9.6 The most important change is that the old way to load libraries has been restored: cdll.LoadLibrary(path), and CDLL(path) work again. For details see the changelog in CVS and in the source distribution. It was a mistake to change that in the 0.9.9.3 release - I apologize for any confusion and additional work this has caused or will cause. New module ctypes.util which contains a cross-platform find_library function. Sized integer types (c_int8, c_int16, and so on) have been added by integrating a patch from Joe Wreschnig. Also c_size_t, which corresonds to the 'size_t' C type has been added. Two long standing bugs with pointers have been fixed. Thanks to Axel Seibert for pushing me to the first, and thanks to Armin Rigo for finding the second one. The ctypes.decorator module has been removed completely, so the 'cdecl' and 'stdcall' symbols are no longer available. The code generator has been removed completely. It will probably be made available as a separate project later. The samples directory has been removed because it was completely out-of-date. The .zip and .tar.gz source distributions no longer contain different file sets. The development in CVS now takes place in the HEAD again, the 'branch_1_0' branch is no longer used. Changes in 0.9.9.3 Windows The ctypes.com package is no longer included and supported. It is replaced by the comtypes package which will be released separately. ctypes has been ported to Windows CE by Luke Dunstan. Other platforms Hye-Shik Chang has written a new build system for libffi which should remove possible licensing issues. All platforms The library loading code has been rewritten by Andreas Degert, there are now sophisticated methods to find shared libraries. On OS X, this uses files from Bob Ippolito's macholib. See the manual for details. Finally I started to write the manual, it is available online: http://tinyurl.com/7bpg4 New 'errcheck' protocol to check the return values of foreign functions, suggested by Mike Fletcher. Lots of bug fixes, especially for 64-bit platforms. Improved performance when creating ctypes instances. Subclasses of simple types (c_int, c_void_p, and so on) now behave as expected - they are not automatically converted into native Python types any longer. Support for explicit byte ordering in structures has been added (BigEndianStructure, LittleEndianStructure base classes). call byref() automatically, if needed, for POINTER types in argtypes. Lots of improvements to the code generator. Download Downloads are available in the sourceforge files section <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71702> Binary windows installers, which contain compiled extension modules, are also available, be sure to download the correct one for the Python version you are using. Homepage <http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/> Enjoy, Thomas

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cx_Oracle 4.2
by Anthony Tuininga 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

What is cx_Oracle? cx_Oracle is a Python extension module that allows access to Oracle and conforms to the Python database API 2.0 specifications with a few exceptions. Where do I get it? http://starship.python.net/crew/atuining What's new? 1) Added support for parsing an Oracle statement as requested by Patrick Blackwill. 2) Added support for BFILEs at the request of Matthew Cahn. 3) Added support for binding decimal.Decimal objects to cursors. 4) Added support for reading from NCLOBs as requested by Chris Dunscombe. 5) Added connection attributes encoding and nencoding which return the IANA character set name for the character set and national character set in use by the client. 6) Rework module initialization to use the techniques recommended by the Python documentation as one user was experiencing random segfaults due to the use of the module dictionary after the initialization was complete. 7) Removed support for the OPT_Threading attribute. Use the threaded keyword when creating connections and session pools instead. 8) Removed support for the OPT_NumbersAsStrings attribute. Use the numbersAsStrings attribute on cursors instead. 9) Use type long rather than type int in order to support long integers on 64-bit machines as reported by Uwe Hoffmann. 10) Add cursor attribute "bindarraysize" which is defaulted to 1 and is used to determine the size of the arrays created for bind variables. 11) Added repr() methods to provide something a little more useful than the standard type name and memory address. 12) Added keyword argument support to the functions that imply such in the documentation as requested by Harald Armin Massa. 13) Treat an empty dictionary passed through to cursor.execute() as keyword arguments the same as if no keyword arguments were specified at all, as requested by Fabien Grumelard. 14) Fixed memory leak when a LOB read would fail. 15) Set the LDFLAGS value in the environment rather than directly in the setup.py file in order to satisfy those who wish to enable the use of debugging symbols. 16) Use __DATE__ and __TIME__ to determine the date and time of the build rather than passing it through directly. 17) Use Oracle types and add casts to reduce warnings as requested by Amaury Forgeot d'Arc. 18) Fixed typo in error message.

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ANN: Zenoss-0.21.1
by Erik A. Dahl 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Version 0.21.1 of Zenoss is available for download. Major feature enhancements of this version include remote process monitoring using the HOST-RESOURCES-MIB, SNMP trap reception and MIB compilation (using libsmi). This release also fixes zenoss bugs: #176, #177 and #185 and zenwin bug #189. To download: http://www.zenoss.org/download Release Notes: http://dev.zenoss.org/trac/wiki/zenoss-0.21/ Project Home: http://www.zenoss.org/ Project Blurb: Zenoss is a GPL licensed enterprise grade monitoring system that provides Inventory/Configuration, Event, Performance and Availability management in a single integrated package. It is written in Python using the Zope web application framework and Twisted network programming environment. Zenoss is designed to be easy to use for a beginner yet flexible and powerful enough for the advanced user. Enjoy, -EAD Erik Dahl CTO & Co-Founder Zenoss, Inc.

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Ireland PyPy sprint 21th-27th August 2006
by Michael Hudson 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

The next PyPy sprint will happen in the nice city of Limerick in Ireland from 21st till 27th August. (Most people intend to arrive 20th August). The main focus of the sprint will be on JIT compiler works, various optimization works, porting extension modules, infrastructure works like a build tool for PyPy, or extended (distributed) testing. It's also open to new topics. If you are a student consider to participate in `Summer of PyPy`_ in order get funding for your travels and accomodation. The sprint is being hosted by University of Limerick (http://www.ul.ie/) - and is arranged in co-operation with people from our sister project Calibre (www.calibre.ie). Our contact at the University is Pär Ågerfalk and Eoin Oconchuir. .. _`Summer of PyPy`: http://codespeak.net/pypy/dist/pypy/doc/summer-of-pypy First day: introduction and workshop (possible to attend only this day) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ During the first day (21st of August) there will be talks on various subjects related to PyPy: * A tutorial and technical introduction to the PyPy codebase (suited for people interested in getting an overview of PyPy´s architecture and/or contributing to PyPy) * a workshop covering more in-depth technical aspects of PyPy and what PyPy can do for you. The workshop will also cover methodology, aiming at explaining the pros and cons of sprint-driven development. (suited for sprint attendants, students, staff and other interested parties from/around the University and the local area) The tutorial will be part of the sprint introduction - the workshop will take place if there is enough interest raised before the 21st of August from people planning to attend. You are of course welcome to attend just for this first day of the sprint. If you want to come ... ---------------------------- If you'd like to come, please subscribe to the `pypy-sprint mailing list`_ and drop a note about your interests and post any questions. More organisational information will be send to that list. We'll keep a list of `people`_ which we'll update (which you can do so yourself if you have codespeak commit rights). .. _`Calibre`: http://www.calibre.ie A small disclaimer: There might be people visiting the sprint in order to do research on how open source communities work, organize and communicate. This research might be done via filming, observing or interviewing. But of course you will be able to opt-out of being filmed at the sprint. Logistics -------------------------------------- NOTE: you need a UK style of power adapter (220V). The sprint will be held in the Computer Science Building, room CSG-025, University of Limerick (no 7 on http://www.ul.ie/main/places/campus.shtml). Bus 308 from Limerick city will take you to no 30 (approx.). See http://www.ul.ie/main/places/travel.shtml for more on how to get to UL. We will have access to the sprint facilities from 09:00-19:00 every day (it might be even later than 19:00). Monday-Wednesday, Friday-Sunday are sprint days, Thursday is likely a break day. Food on campus varies in price and quality ;-) : from ca 4 EUR to 7-8 EUR for a lunch. There are of course a lot more food alternatives in down town Limerick. Next Airports ------------------ Shannon Airport (SNN) is the nearest airport (Ryanair flies there) - you may check out more information about flights to/from the airport at http://www.shannonairport.com/index.html There are busses from there to downtown Limerick, and busses from Limerick to the UL campus. Taxis are about 35 EUR. Accomodation ----------------- There is a website address for campus accomodation at http://www.ul.ie/conference/accommodation.htm. The rate should be 49 euro for Bed and Breakfast. If you are interested in booking campus accommodation, please contact deborah.tudge at ul ie and make reference to the PyPy workshop and sprint. Please try to book as soon as possible. As an off-campus accommodation alternative you can also try: Castletroy Lodge and Castletroy Inn (Bed and Breakfast) Dublin Road (15 to 20 mins walk to UL) Tel: +353 61 338385 / +353 61 331167 .. _`pypy-sprint mailing list`: http://codespeak.net/mailman/listinfo/pypy-sprint .. _`people`: people.html -- Remember - if all you have is an axe, every problem looks like hours of fun. -- Frossie -- http://home.xnet.com/~raven/Sysadmin/ASR.Quotes.html

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EuroPython 2006: Video of Keynote by Alan Kay
by Christian Scholz 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Finally all three parts of the keynote of computing pioneer Alan Kay are online. You can watch them at http://mrtopf.tv or you can search on iTunes for "mrtopf" and subscribe to it to get new episodes automatically. As soon as I have some time I will put up more videos from the conference. Christan Scholz -- Christian Scholz COM.lounge Luetticher Strasse 10 52064 Aachen Tel: +49 241 400 730 0 Fax: +49 241 979 00 850 EMail: cs(a)comlounge.net Homepage: http://comlounge.net

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[ANN] Soya 3D 0.12
by Jiba 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

*** What is Soya 3D ? *** Soya 3D is an object oriented "high level" 3D engine for Python. Somehow, Soya is to 3D what Python is to programming: an 'avant guarde' 3D engine, a kind of 'UFO' in the 3D world :-). Soya allows to develop very rapidly games of other 3D apps, entirely in the Python language (contrary to most of the other engine, in which Python is limited to scripting tasks). Moreover, Soya is easy to learn and offers pretty good performances. Soya is used successfully in 3D games, but also in demos, scientific simulations, or educational programs. Soya offers the features one can expect from a 3D engine, like basic scene management, cell-shading, shadows, particles systems,... as well as some unique features aiming at making 3D development easier and more rapid. Soya is Free Software, under the GNU GPL. Soya is written in Pyrex (a mix of C and Python) and in Python. *** New in Soya 0.12 *** 0.12 is a major release with many new features: * There were many weird classname in Soya. Many of them have be renamed to more comprehensive name (e.g. Idler becomes MainLoop). Backward compatibility is fully ensured, though. * A new sound API, integrating directly OpenAL, and fully multi-platform (the old pyopenal was not working well under windows). * Soya is now able to automagically determine which objects are static, and to optimize them (currently, it is used to optimize shadows and sounds). * The first step of a model deforming system has been implemented; it is however not yet fully functional (hey, we have to keep something for 0.13 :-). * A new documentation for Soya is under writing: http://download.gna.org/soya/soya_guide.pdf Soya website: http://soyaproject.org Download Soya 0.12: http://download.gna.org/soya/Soya-0.12.tar.bz2 http://download.gna.org/soya/SoyaTutorial-0.12.tar.bz2 Complete changelog: * July 2006 : Soya3D 0.12 * Massive renaming (backward compatibility is maintained through aliases): Idler -> MainLoop Shape -> Model Cal3dShape -> AnimatedModel Shapifier -> ModelBuilder Volume -> Body Cal3dVolume -> Body (merged with Volume) Land -> Terrain * New sound API (see soya.Sound, soya.SoundPlayer and tuto sound-1.py) * Static and auto_static: all Soya objects (inheriting from CoordSyst) have now a "static" attribute that can be use to tag them as static for optimizing them, and an "auto_static" attribute (defaulting to true) that allows Soya to automatically determine wether they are static or not * Static shadows: static object's shadows are rendered faster * New method MainLoop.update, for embedding Soya inside Tk (or other GUI or mainloop) ; MainLoop.start has been removed since it has never been really working * Font now inherits from SavedInAPath (=> you can have a data/fonts/ directory) * Dynamic model deforming (see tuto deform-1.py); this feature is still under work and the API may change in the next release. * Auto-exporters can now be disabled (soya.AUTO_EXPORTERS_ENABLED = 0) * Bugfix: * Bugfix in 3DSmax exporter on material (thanks Snaip) * The Blender => Soya auto-exporter no longer require that Blender can import Soya. This was causing some weird bugs with some Blender binaries. * Fix for 64 bits platforms. * Bugfix on mirroring (scaling with negative values) * Bugfix on shadows on AnimatedModel: soya was segfaulting if the model was culled on the first rendering Jiba

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Fall Python training seminar in Colorado
by lutz＠rmi.net 18 Jul '06

18 Jul '06

Mark Lutz's Python Training Services is pleased to announce that our Fall 2006 public Colorado seminar is now open. This 5-day Python training event will be held November 6 through November 10. This year, our Fall seminar will be held at Historic Crag's Lodge, a resort in Estes Park, Colorado. Estes Park is a mountain town 80 miles from Denver's airport, and gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. This in an all-inclusive event. Come spend 5 days mastering Python in the beautiful Colorado Rockies, and let us handle the details of your visit. We will be providing students with rooms at the resort, three full meals per day, a guided sightseeing tour, shuttle service to and from the Denver airport, and our new "Snake Charmers" T-shirt. Besides the included amenities, the extended format of this session will allow for in-depth coverage of class topics. Like all our public classes, this seminar will be taught by best-selling Python author and trainer Mark Lutz, and is open to individual enrollments. For more details, please see our web page: http://home.earthlink.net/~python-training/public.html Python Training Services

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Diet Python
by eternalsquire＠comcast.net 18 Jul '06

18 Jul '06

Diet Python is a flavor of Python with allegro, multiarray, umath, calldll, npstruct and curses builtin, all else nonessential to language ripped out. Total size < 3MB, 1% of PSF Python. Diet Python helps keep clients thin :) You'll find it in http://sourceforge.net/projects/dietpython Cheers, The Eternal Squire

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jul 17)
by Cameron Laird 17 Jul '06

17 Jul '06

QOTW: "Alas, Python has extensive libraries and [is] well documented to boot." - Edmond Dantes "Locking files is a complex business." - Sybren Stuvel File-locking *sounds* like an easy thing; it just isn't so in any operating system that often appears on desktops. Take advantage of those, like Jim Segrave, who have traveled this path before: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/2d7a18… Regular expressions do so much; in Perl, they can even initiate arbitrary side effects. Python achieves the same through evaluated substitution, or pyparsing, or ... or even directly, with the SE module: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/3189b1… effbot explains exemaker. Yes, it *is* easy to supply a runnable Python or Python-based application on a memory stick: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/40e16c… John Machin illustrates the rudiments of embedding: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/3189b1… Closures let Peter Otten streamline an example test automation: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/665dc5… 'Want to be a Python hero? Clean up cross-generation: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/84f3defcf8545736 ======================================================================== Everything Python-related you want is probably one or two clicks away in these pages: Python.org's Python Language Website is the traditional center of Pythonia http://www.python.org Notice especially the master FAQ http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html PythonWare complements the digest you're reading with the marvelous daily python url http://www.pythonware.com/daily Mygale is a news-gathering webcrawler that specializes in (new) World-Wide Web articles related to Python. http://www.awaretek.com/nowak/mygale.html While cosmetically similar, Mygale and the Daily Python-URL are utterly different in their technologies and generally in their results. For far, FAR more Python reading than any one mind should absorb, much of it quite interesting, several pages index much of the universe of Pybloggers. http://lowlife.jp/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/PythonProgrammersWeblog http://www.planetpython.org/ http://mechanicalcat.net/pyblagg.html comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software. Be sure to scan this newsgroup weekly. http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python.announce Python411 indexes "podcasts ... to help people learn Python ..." Updates appear more-than-weekly: http://www.awaretek.com/python/index.html Steve Bethard, Tim Lesher, and Tony Meyer continue the marvelous tradition early borne by Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson and Brett Cannon of intelligently summarizing action on the python-dev mailing list once every other week. http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ The Python Package Index catalogues packages. http://www.python.org/pypi/ The somewhat older Vaults of Parnassus ambitiously collects references to all sorts of Python resources. http://www.vex.net/~x/parnassus/ Much of Python's real work takes place on Special-Interest Group mailing lists http://www.python.org/sigs/ Python Success Stories--from air-traffic control to on-line match-making--can inspire you or decision-makers to whom you're subject with a vision of what the language makes practical. http://www.pythonology.com/success The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has replaced the Python Consortium as an independent nexus of activity. It has official responsibility for Python's development and maintenance. http://www.python.org/psf/ Among the ways you can support PSF is with a donation. http://www.python.org/psf/donate.html Kurt B. Kaiser publishes a weekly report on faults and patches. http://www.google.com/groups?as_usubject=weekly%20python%20patch Although unmaintained since 2002, the Cetus collection of Python hyperlinks retains a few gems. http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_python.html Python FAQTS http://python.faqts.com/ The Cookbook is a collaborative effort to capture useful and interesting recipes. http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python Among several Python-oriented RSS/RDF feeds available are http://www.python.org/channews.rdf http://bootleg-rss.g-blog.net/pythonware_com_daily.pcgi http://python.de/backend.php For more, see http://www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php?ShowMatch=python&ShowStatus=all The old Python "To-Do List" now lives principally in a SourceForge reincarnation. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=355470&group_id=5470&func=browse http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0042/ The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.cognizor.com. editor(a)pythonjournal.com and editor(a)pythonjournal.cognizor.com welcome submission of material that helps people's understanding of Python use, and offer Web presentation of your work. del.icio.us presents an intriguing approach to reference commentary. It already aggregates quite a bit of Python intelligence. http://del.icio.us/tag/python *Py: the Journal of the Python Language* http://www.pyzine.com Archive probing tricks of the trade: http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python&num=100 http://groups.google.com/groups?meta=site%3Dgroups%26group%3Dcomp.lang.pyth… Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here: http://www.ddj.com/topic/python/ (requires subscription) http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=python-url+group:comp.lang.python*&s… http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lan… There is *not* an RSS for "Python-URL!"--at least not yet. Arguments for and against are occasionally entertained. Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome. E-mail to <Python-URL(a)phaseit.net> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <claird(a)phaseit.net> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". Write to the same address to unsubscribe. -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.

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