Setting up Python bindings issues deprecation warnings

[rbeezer]

Can't see that this has been reported here. Apologies if it is a duplicate or known. Setting up Python bindings issues a few deprecation warnings. My install just now (into a fresh version of Python) seems to be working fine. Python 3.12, Ubuntu 24.04.

Rob

/tmp/liblouis-3.31.0/python# python3 setup.py install
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/_distutils/cmd.py:66: SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning: setup.py install is deprecated.
!!

        ********************************************************************************
        Please avoid running ``setup.py`` directly.
        Instead, use pypa/build, pypa/installer or other
        standards-based tools.

        See https://blog.ganssle.io/articles/2021/10/setup-py-deprecated.html for details.
        ********************************************************************************

!!
  self.initialize_options()
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/_distutils/cmd.py:66: EasyInstallDeprecationWarning: easy_install command is deprecated.
!!

        ********************************************************************************
        Please avoid running ``setup.py`` and ``easy_install``.
        Instead, use pypa/build, pypa/installer or other
        standards-based tools.

        See https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/917 for details.
        ********************************************************************************

!!
  self.initialize_options()
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/dist.py:172: SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning: Invalid config.
!!

        ********************************************************************************
        newlines are not allowed in `summary` and will break in the future
        ********************************************************************************

!!
  write_field('Summary', single_line(summary))
zip_safe flag not set; analyzing archive contents...

[Hrishi-R]

Hey Rob,
I just ran into this issue too. Would you mind sharing how you moved past it? I did not have this problem the last time I tried to install it (approx 3 months ago - python 3.12 + Debian). This seems like a new issue.

Thanks!

Edit: I found a workaround. After encountering this error, I ran "pip install louis", and it seemed to have installed it! Source for the workaround: #1114 (comment)

[egli]

Somebody should sit down and create a proper Python package for liblouis. I thought @BueVest was working on one. Looking at the Python Packaging User Guide it really doesn't seem that hard. What makes it a bit tricky is that you have to make sure the liblouis library is installed. There is a chapter in the guide about Packaging binary extensions which deals with that subject.

I do not have time to work on this but I could help someone to get this done.

[BueVest]

Yes, I was. However, then I couldn’t compile Liblouis after upgrading my swl as part of the project. Am I right in assuming that gnulib has been updated? Then I will try again. As you say, it shouldn’t be that difficult.

[egli]

Am I right in assuming that gnulib has been updated?

Yes, gnulib has been updated

[rbeezer]

Just a note to say that this will greatly simplify matters for PreTeXt authors wishing to produce braille, and for the creation of tactile diagrams with PreFigure, which is integrated into PreTeXt. So thanks very much for the work in this direction.

I have no direct experience with Python packaging, but could troll our PreTeXt dev group to see if anybody would be interested in helping. Let me know if that would be desirable.