[vtk-developers] Re: VTK Python Installation [was: VTK 5.0 branch in mid-August]

[Prabhu Ramachandran]

>>>>> "Brad" == Brad King <brad.king at kitware.com> writes:

    Brad> Prabhu Ramachandran wrote:
    >> So, I'd vote for versioned VTK libs.  I'd also like to reach a
    >> consensus on what to do about the Python modules.
    >>
    >> 1. Does rpath/soname work with '.' under all platforms
    >>    supported?
    Brad> I think it is but I'm not sure.  Either way I'm planning to
    Brad> just remove rpath altogether from installations.  There will
[...]
    >> 2. If the answer to 1 is yes, do we go with this or still go
    >>    with the Apple solution?  If not I think we should just go
    >>    for the Apple solution.
    Brad> I think we should use the "apple" solution either way
    Brad> because it allows the python modules to be in site-packages
    Brad> while the shared libraries are in PREFIX/lib.  It will also
    Brad> be nice to not have special behavior on OSX.
    >> 3. How hard would it be to add version numbers for the VTK
    >>    libraries? Should we wait till this happens?
    Brad> I now have a working implementation of shared library
    Brad> version numbers.  It is pretty simple and doesn't seem to
    Brad> have any compatibility issues.  Once we require CMake 2.0 I
    Brad> can commit these changes.  After that I'll look at moving
    Brad> the libraries into PREFIX/lib instead of PREFIX/lib/vtk.

Well, what can I say?  This is excellent news!  Many thanks for
listening to us patiently and helping so much.  Needless to say, you
rock! :-)

Anyway, a few more questions.  I'm going to remove the older
vtkpython.py and other files and modify setup.py.  I'll remove the
.pth file as well.  Just FYI, setup.py is intended to be run *after*
VTK itself has been "installed".
 
  1. The setup.py currently pulls in the vtkpython/pvtkpython
     interpreters and installs them into a Python specific place.
     Should this be done or not?

  2. Under win32, IIRC (this was a long time ago) the interpreters and
     or modules seem to be built in bin/{'Debug', 'Release',
     'MinSizeRel', 'RelWithDebInfo'}.  Depending on what the user
     chooses.  Does LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH/EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH include
     this or do I have to figure it out looking at what has been
     chosen.  The current incarnation of setup.py assumes that the
     dll's are inside LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH and that the interpreters
     are in EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH or in one of its subdirs.  Is this
     still true.  Where should I expect the libs and executables?

  3. If you are planning on changing the install rules, please ensure
     that the vtkRenderingPythonTkWidgets.dll/.so goes into a
     directory on the PATH or in PREFIX/lib.  It does not seem to work
     reliably otherwise.  I will ignore this file in setup.py.

  4. Does Kitware plan to make a binary installer for VTK-Python under
     Win32?  If so, which version of Python will this need?  I also
     humbly request that this build support gl2ps. :)

Thanks again for everything!

cheers,
prabhu