[Bf-python] Meeting minutes 24-05 + invitation 31-05

[Michel Selten]

Attendants: Blacky, IanWill, guignot, antont, Michel, intrr

Status of developments:
-----------------------
- Michel is still working on the Object module.
- IanWill is working on the Material module, after that he'll continue
  work on the NMesh module

Discussion then went to inconsistencies in the API.
- Blender has its own sys module (Blender.sys). It contains a selection 
  of functions found in the Python.os and Python.sys modules.
- the "shadow" modules are not going to be implemented (modules 
  beginning with a _ ).
- Suggested was to implement the API in 2.28 with all the quirks found 
  in previous releases and to warn the user that these are to be
  removed in next releases.
  Problem is that a lot of work is put in implementing those quirks that
  will be removed 1 day after 2.28 comes out.
- Another suggestion was to create 2 binaries for 2.28. 1 with bpython
  and 1 with python.
  Problem is that this will produce a lot of different binaries, and
  users are going to be confused.
- Next suggestion was to do a couple of pre-releases of blender with
  exppython. (Let's say 2 weeks). If, after that, the problems are too
  big to overcome, we can decide if we want to release 2 versions of
  blender (1 bpython, 1 python).
  This sounded like the best solution to go for.
- The IPO and Scene modules are not yet being implemented. guignot
  volunteered to work on the IPO module.
  The Scene module will be implemented by Michel and used as a reference
  for writing documentation on implementing a new Python module.
- Do we want the World module back (it was in 2.23, but not in 2.25)?

Documentation and Testing:
--------------------------
- A directory needs to be created in CVS that will contain all testing
  scripts.
- The documentation for the API needs to be updated. Not only the new
  modules are in need of documentation, but the current status of 2.25
  docs is in need of updates. There are some errors in there.
  guignot will mail the Curve, Metaballs and Effect API documentation 
  to the bf-python mailing list.
- Using Doxygen, the internals of the Python API can be described, not
  the api itself. For now, a plain simple text format is sufficient. It
  can be converted to docbook later.
  A module documentation should contain the following sections:
  1 - General Description
  2 - Functions of the module
  3 - Variables of the objects of the module
  4 - Functions of the objects of the module

New modules:
------------
- The Curve module is almost complete by guignot
- A proposal for the Metaballs module was to add a MetaElems submodule.
- Effects module is completely rewritten. It contains Particle, Wave
  and Build.
- Unfortunately Jordi was not at the meeting. He's working on the
  Armature and Bones module.
- The above 5 modules are the 5 new modules to be added for Blender 2.28

Discussion went to a new Matrix module
This has been a discussion at the mailing list too. There are some
problems with such a module, because a matrix contains possibilities not
supported by Blender (shear, perspective).

Python requirements
Was the Blender.sys module the only requirement for running simple
Python scripts without having a full Python installation?
It's possible that the freeze process added a very basic python stub to
Blender.
Suggested was that the user simply has to install Python when running a
script. Problem is that not all sys admins allow users to install
Python.
Running Blender, does not require a full Python install. This may change
in the future when Python becomes part of the Blender interface (menu
items that call scripts for example).
It was decided that when a user wants to run scripts, he has to install
Python.

Security:
---------
The sandbox.py looks pretty good. This will be tried first, and see if
that's sufficient.

Next meeting will be at Saturday 31st at 16:00 GMT / 18:00 CET

With regards,
	Michel