[Bf-committers] Bf-committers Digest, Vol 1040, Issue 1

[Sergey Sharybin]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for sharing the insights. I've almost missed your reply. We have a
dedicated mailing list thread for it.

The bright side of supporting newer early Python is that the moment VFX
Platform releases its new version for the next year all the work is already
done and even tested! :)

While the following questions might not be directly related to the ongoing
VFX Platform discussion, I've got couple of questions to have a deeper
understanding of the situation and what could potential solutions be:

- Is using Python's Limited API [1] something that was investigated? From a
quick look it seems that it covers everything we use in Cycles Python
module.
- How much easier render engine's development and distribution would be if
they would have access to C++ RNA (same as we use in Cycles) ?

[1] https://docs.python.org/3/c-api/stable.html#c.Py_LIMITED_API

Best regards,
- Sergey -
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sergey Sharybin - sergey at blender.org - www.blender.org
Principal Software Engineer, Blender
Buikslotermeerplein 161, 1025 ET Amsterdam, the Netherlands


On Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 2:25 PM Brian Savery via Bf-committers <
bf-committers at blender.org> wrote:

> >
> >
> > Let’s not beat around the bush, no-one has
> > ever complained about our OIIO, Boost, VDB or
> > TBB versions. People get ..passionate..
> > about python, anytime someone brings up the
> > VFX Platform it's python, It's never anything
> > else, it's python, the rest of the VFX platform
> > may as well not exist. The issue is, and will
> > always be python.
> >
> > The real question is, are we going to follow
> > the platform in regards to python or not.
> >
>
> Ray I think hit the nail on the head here. And just to put a finer point on
> it. The issue is not python scripts (those will always be forward
> compatible) but python c extensions.
>
> For example the RenderMan guys include a python binding of the RenderMan
> API in their distro. This is compiled for a specific python version(s)
> usually based one the VFX reference platform because they have to work in
> Maya Houdini etc. Moving to a newer version of python breaks compatibility
> for add-ons like this.
>
> Usually for add-ons developers moving their build systems to a new version
> of python to compile against causes significant pain which is why you hear
> the complaints. I'm not saying this pain should hold blender back
> nescessarily but just explaining it. And as an add-on developer who
> supports multiple Softwares we don't see this python issue other places.
>
> >
> > --
> brian.savery at gmail.com
> 508-274-8700
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