PyQT installation

[Nanoscalesoft]

hello all,
I am planning to start coding a nanoscale design software in
python with QT interface.I have to do this in windows or linux.Intially
windows would be fine.
I have struggled almost full day today trying to make
from import qt *
execute...........................I have the basic python core. I went
through the sites like riverbankcomputing and trolltech and few online
pages and books which talk about PyQT but never say about their
installation step properly.
I need to know step by step what shud i do.I have also installed
the windows binary of PyQT from riverbank and have ordered a QTdesigner
CD.But i can't wait.I need to do this fast.(Is there any other thing i
have to do)
Any clean and clear cut info in linux or windows( as I hope this
as the groups standard to be) would help me start my nanoscale project
or otherwise i have to rethink the GUI..Common QT is my favourite i
need my project work to be done on my favourite thing.

regards,
Charles

(doing an example program wud be a welcome sweeet)

 

[Phil Thompson]

hello all,
I am planning to start coding a nanoscale design software in
python with QT interface.I have to do this in windows or linux.Intially
windows would be fine.
I have struggled almost full day today trying to make
from import qt *
execute...........................I have the basic python core. I went
through the sites like riverbankcomputing and trolltech and few online
pages and books which talk about PyQT but never say about their
installation step properly.
I need to know step by step what shud i do.I have also installed
the windows binary of PyQT from riverbank and have ordered a QTdesigner
CD.But i can't wait.I need to do this fast.(Is there any other thing i
have to do)
Any clean and clear cut info in linux or windows( as I hope this
as the groups standard to be) would help me start my nanoscale project
or otherwise i have to rethink the GUI..Common QT is my favourite i
need my project work to be done on my favourite thing.

Exactly what versions of Python, Qt and PyQt have you installed?

Phil

 

[Nanoscalesoft]

hi phil...
py-->2.4
pyqt-->3.3
qt-->2.3.0

 

[Phil Thompson]

hi phil...
py-->2.4
pyqt-->3.3

I assume you mean PyQt-win-nc-msvc-3.13.exe

qt-->2.3.0

I assume you mean the non-commercial edition.

The binaries are built against Python 2.3.3 - Python 2.4 won't work. Python
2.4 (and later) will never be supported by the non-commercial edition because
of the MSVC 6 vs 7 issue.

Phil

 

[Steve Holden]

I assume you mean PyQt-win-nc-msvc-3.13.exe




I assume you mean the non-commercial edition.

The binaries are built against Python 2.3.3 - Python 2.4 won't work. Python
2.4 (and later) will never be supported by the non-commercial edition because
of the MSVC 6 vs 7 issue.

Phil

If that is a real *never* then Qt just fell behind in the "what's the
best GUI platform" stakes. It'd be a shame to lose PyQT, but if there's
no way to migrate it forwards it will atrophy and die. Have TrollTech
said they will never issue MSVC 7 binaries?

Is there no way to use the free Microsoft toolchain to compile, or do
the language differences just make the whole deal too difficult (or is
there some other show-stopper that my ignorance prevents me from seeing?).

regards
Steve

 

[Jorge Luiz Godoy Filho]

If that is a real *never* then Qt just fell behind in the "what's the
best GUI platform" stakes. It'd be a shame to lose PyQT, but if there's
no way to migrate it forwards it will atrophy and die. Have TrollTech
said they will never issue MSVC 7 binaries?

"non-commercial" binaries he said... I hope it is just the non-commercial
really, 'cause the look & feel of Qt is very nice.

Is there no way to use the free Microsoft toolchain to compile, or do
the language differences just make the whole deal too difficult (or is
there some other show-stopper that my ignorance prevents me from seeing?).

Isn't it possible to compile everything with a free compiler? I'm not a
Windows user, but...

 

[Phil Thompson]

If that is a real *never* then Qt just fell behind in the "what's the
best GUI platform" stakes. It'd be a shame to lose PyQT, but if there's
no way to migrate it forwards it will atrophy and die. Have TrollTech
said they will never issue MSVC 7 binaries?

Is there no way to use the free Microsoft toolchain to compile, or do
the language differences just make the whole deal too difficult (or is
there some other show-stopper that my ignorance prevents me from seeing?).

You've completely misunderstood what I said.

I specifically said the non-commercial edition. This is a binary only version
based on Qt v2.3 and released in March 2001 - the first beta of Qt v4.0 has
just been released. The commercial and GPL versions of Qt is supplied in
source form and supports MSVC 6, 7, Borland, Cygwin and the Intel compiler.
PyQt supports all versions of Python since v1.5.2.

I think Qt is doing very well in the "best GUI platform" stakes if people
still want to use a 4 year old version in preference to up to date versions
of the alternatives.

Phil

 

[Nanoscalesoft]

does that mean PyQT is not forward!!!!!!!! What a bad thing is this...

 

[Steve Holden]

You've completely misunderstood what I said.

And not for the first time, probably. Mea culpa.

I specifically said the non-commercial edition. This is a binary only version
based on Qt v2.3 and released in March 2001 - the first beta of Qt v4.0 has
just been released. The commercial and GPL versions of Qt is supplied in
source form and supports MSVC 6, 7, Borland, Cygwin and the Intel compiler.
PyQt supports all versions of Python since v1.5.2.

Well, OK, so I take it this means that TrollTech have announced they
won't be producing an up to date non-commercial edition?

I presume the non-commercial edition is for people who want to use Qt
but don't want to pay licensing fees or open their source? Or is the GPL
version only available on non-Windows platforms? Of all the GUI
platforms I know about, Qt certainly has the murkiest licensing picture.

I think Qt is doing very well in the "best GUI platform" stakes if people
still want to use a 4 year old version in preference to up to date versions
of the alternatives.

I have no quibble with that - as I know, there are a lot of happy Qt
users, and it has an interestingly different architecture. It would be
even better if the licensing requirements were consistent across all
platforms.

and-if-wishes-were-horses-ly y'rs - steve

 

[Jarek Zgoda]

does that mean PyQT is not forward!!!!!!!! What a bad thing is this...

Whoa, how did you get it?

You can buy commercial licenses and be as current as we are on Linux
with GPL versions of Qt+PyQt. Oh, and QScintilla and Eric3!

 

[Alex Martelli]

Whoa, how did you get it?

You can buy commercial licenses and be as current as we are on Linux
with GPL versions of Qt+PyQt. Oh, and QScintilla and Eric3!

MacOSX, too. And it's COOL to program (haven't looked at all into 4.0
yet -- I'm mostly talking about 3.*)... I dunno, its programming model
just appears to fit my brain very well, I guess.

BTW: used to be that the cheapest way to get commercial licenses for Qt
use from Python only (i.e. if you didn't care to write C++ code for it
anyway) was to purchase BlackAdder -- a usable IDE by itself, btw,
though no doubt not as powerful in debugging as WingIDE. I haven't
recently checked whether that is still true, however.


Alex

 

[Alex Martelli]

I presume the non-commercial edition is for people who want to use Qt
but don't want to pay licensing fees or open their source? Or is the GPL
version only available on non-Windows platforms? Of all the GUI
platforms I know about, Qt certainly has the murkiest licensing picture.

I don't find it murky, myself: GPL is available for good platforms (such
as MacOSX and Linux), if you insist on using/releasing for Windows, you
have to pay, period.

Non-commercial edition is NOT for release or ANY commercial use, just
for learning.

Basically: if you want it on Windows for free, forget Qt (I hear the
cygwin people are trying to make a GPL Qt available for Win+cyg+XFree,
but I suspect trolltech ain't happy about that -- anyway, I don't think
it would be "native", X11 being still required). That's how Trolltech
chooses to finance their development -- make money from firms which want
to release for Windows (or ones which want to release closed-source for
Unix or Mac, but I suspect there's few of the latter), use some part of
that money to support and encourage free software on free platforms or
platforms _close enough_ to free (Mac OS X itself ain't free -- but its
underpinnings, Darwin, are... a nice variant on open-source BSD...).

There _WERE_ (4 years ago? 5?) some licensing hassles, and some kind of
stand-off between Trolltech/Qt on one side and the FSF on the other
(which resulted in the birth of Gnome as an alternative to Qt-based KDE,
if I recall correctly). But that WAS a long time ago, and now that the
GPL version is available (though not for Windows) and has been for quite
a while I'm pretty sure not even Stallman has bones to pick with
Trolltech's licensing any more.


Fairly or not, it does seem Trolltech is paying in terms of mindshare
for their not-for-free attitude to Windows among the
free-as-in-free-beer software crowd -- if a GPL version was available
for Windows I'm pretty sure PyQt would be the default de facto Python
GUI toolkit today, rather than having wx and Tk vie for the crown (with
GTK as a somewhat-distant third, it appears to me, and Qt nowhere in
sight because "it ain't free for Windows"). But really, there hasn't
been anything murky about it for _years_... take it or leave it, it's
rather clear and well-defined, it seems to me!


Alex

 

[Brian]

For those curious about Trolltech's stance on Windows, here's what
Trolltech's "License FAQ - Open Source Edition" (
http://www.trolltech.com/developer/faqs/license_gpl.html ) has to say:

" Why is there no Open Source (GNU GPL) version of Qt on Windows ?

We have regrettably not found a way of making GPL versions for Windows
available without risking the very business model we depend upon to be
able to further develop and support Qt.

Please note that if you make the source code for your project available
and your license allows it, any holder of a commercial Qt Windows
license can create binaries for your project. "

 

[John J. Lee]

Basically: if you want it on Windows for free, forget Qt
Correct.


(I hear the
cygwin people are trying to make a GPL Qt available for Win+cyg+XFree,
but I suspect trolltech ain't happy about that -- anyway, I don't think
it would be "native", X11 being still required).

[...]

Not correct. It's driven by KDE, and it's more ambitious than that:

http://kde-cygwin.sourceforge.net/qt3-win32/roadmap.php


IIRC, people have already run some KDE apps under Windows (though
still needing X, so far).

I wonder how TrollTech will react as (and if) it progresses.


John

 

[Ken Godee]

Correct.

I believe the book "C++ GUI programming Qt3" comes
with a windows Qt gpl 3.x version. Just have to buy
the book. No PyQt version to match thou.

Blackadder from the Kompany, while not free, is still
a pretty good deal. Like < $100 for personal and around
$350 for commercial version. Include current windows/linux
versions of (Qt)PyQt along with converted Qt C++ to PyQt docs.

> Not correct. It's driven by KDE, and it's more ambitious than that:

http://kde-cygwin.sourceforge.net/qt3-win32/roadmap.php


IIRC, people have already run some KDE apps under Windows (though
still needing X, so far).

I wonder how TrollTech will react as (and if) it progresses.

I don't think your giving TrollTech any credit here, yes they have
a business model and need to make money, but not everybody is
Microsoft. They are fully aware and supportive of the project
and I remember reading not to long ago they struck an aggrement
with the project that if anything ever happened to TrollTech they
would release Qt to project under gpl, or something like that.

 

[John J Lee]

]

I believe the book "C++ GUI programming Qt3" comes
with a windows Qt gpl 3.x version. Just have to buy
the book. No PyQt version to match thou.

"GPL only if you buy the book" makes no sense. Either it's GPL or it
isn't. (It isn't, in fact.)

[...]

I don't think your giving TrollTech any credit here, yes they have
a business model and need to make money, but not everybody is
Microsoft. They are fully aware and supportive of the project
and I remember reading not to long ago they struck an aggrement
with the project that if anything ever happened to TrollTech they
would release Qt to project under gpl, or something like that.

I'd forgotten about that agreement (again, driven by KDE). Reassuring,
assuming the legalese corresponds to what one assumes is the spirit of it,
and that it will hold water if/when tested in the courts.

I am surprised if they support the effort to make a GPL native MS Windows
version of Qt. They wouldn't have to be evil monopolists to be concerned
about this development, IMHO.


John

 

[Jarek Zgoda]

I believe the book "C++ GUI programming Qt3" comes
with a windows Qt gpl 3.x version. Just have to buy
the book. No PyQt version to match thou.

No, Sir. It's a "non-commercial" edition. At the request from Trolltech,
there's no PyQt-nc available for this version of Qt.

Blackadder from the Kompany, while not free, is still
a pretty good deal. Like < $100 for personal and around
$350 for commercial version. Include current windows/linux
versions of (Qt)PyQt along with converted Qt C++ to PyQt docs.

This is much better way to get PyQt for Windows!