[IPython-dev] IPython proposal: getting rid of "ipython -pylab\-wthread\etc."

[Ville M. Vainio]

On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Brian Granger<ellisonbg.net at gmail.com> wrote:

> * PyGTK 2.15.1 has this.
> * The mpl MacOSX backend works this way
> * Recent versions of PyQT 4 have this.

I think PyQT has always(?) had this. They only recently added a way to
*remove* the input hook (pyqtRemoveInputHook), because pdb required
it. I think the answer regarding pdb is to not use pdb (there are
alternatives), but it may be possible to make pdb work anyway.

> * All of us will need to coordinate version transitions to make sure that
> there is a clean transition to this new approach.

I'm not sure explicit transition is needed - basically, everyone that
embeds ipython can move to the new approach independenly. There are no
ipython changes needed for it. I think writing up instructions on
embedding ipython in the "better" way could be enough, and possibly
pointing to the documentation in the "deprecation note" for -wthread &
likes.

Here's a brief summary of what you need to do:

- Tk - nothing. Just launch embedded ipython session normally, no
threads needed.
- Qt: http://ipython0.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/embedding-ipython-in-gui-apps-is-trivial/
- Gtk: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/17663928/pylabgtk.py,
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ipython/+bug/270856
- Wx: work currently being done by Brian ;-). I do think this
(PyOS_InputHook) should be done in wxpython upstream to avoid bundling
binary blobs / stuff to compile w/ ipython. It should be easy to
motivate wxpython people by saying all the other toolkits do this ;-)

-- 
Ville M. Vainio
http://tinyurl.com/vainio