[Python-ideas] Adding iOS/Android support to Python

[Terry Reedy]

On 10/24/2014 11:06 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> This idea seems to be in the air. Just yesterday someone posted a set of
> patches and suggestions to python-dev about making cross-compilation for
> Android easier.

Matt Frank, "Cross Compiling Python for Android", or close to that. He 
experimented with 3.4.1.

> I expect most people in the core Python team might not
> be eager to jump on this bandwagon because they have no immediate need,
> but these mobile platforms are only getting faster more popular, and I
> think it would be a good idea to be prepared for when suddenly everybody
> wants to develop mobile apps in Python.
>
> On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 7:20 PM, Russell Keith-Magee
> <russell at keith-magee.com
> <mailto:russell at keith-magee.com>> wrote:

>     tl;dr - I'd like to add iOS and Android to the list of platforms
>     that Python supports out-of-the-box, and I'm looking for guidance on
>     the way forward (and assistance, if anyone is keen).

You (freakboy3742) and / or Matt Frank (WanderingLogic) should read the 
developer guide (https://docs.python.org/devguide), submit patches to 
the tracker for 3.5*, put each other as nosy (using the tracker ids 
above), review each other's patches, respond to other issue 
participants, especially core developers, and modify patches as needed 
to get them committed.  Hopefully, one of you would have the goal of 
joining the developer team with commit privileges at least for android 
or ios development.

* The first beta for 3.5 is scheduled for late May, 2015.  At least a 
working prototype of any new feature for 3.5 should be in that release.

>       3) Disabling certain modules on mobile platforms. Supporting
>     modules like linuxaudiodev, ossaudiodev, readline, curses, idle and
>     tkinter on mobile platforms doesn't make much sense; modules likes
>     bsddb and bz2 are difficult to support due to library dependencies;
>     and the need for modules like multiprocessing is arguable (and
>     difficult to support on mobile).

To add to what other said, many tests in the test suite are limited to 
certain platforms already -- skip if windows, skip if not windows, etc. 
  Part of your patching would consist of adding skips for tests.

We would also need to expand the possible Availability notes in the doc, 
adding something like 'Availability - desktop systems' and 'Availablity 
- mobile (Android/IOS)' if mobile-only features were needed.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy