PyGTK

Finally got version 2.0 of PyGTK, PyORBit and Gnome-Python out. I sent the announcements a bit further than usual this time (gnome-announce-list, python-announce, etc). Already, it is in Debian, Mandrake Cooker and there is a Win32 installer. PyGTK is also buildable/runnable on MacOS X, provided that you have an X server installed (such as Apple's one). If you have been holding off from looking at PyGTK 1.99.x, you should definitely take a look now.

This release has been a long time in the making:

• 595 revisions to the ChangeLog (out of 670 revisions on the main branch in CVS) since branching the 1.2 bindings.
• Over 5000 lines in the ChangeLog.
• Over 3 years since branching.

The result is a binding that is a lot nicer to use, and will be much easier to maintain. It does demonstrate that you lose a lot of time when you decide to do a rewrite. At the same time, I don't know if it would have been feasible to get from the old 1.2 bindings to where we are now in small incremental steps. I am very happy with what we have now though.

Updating the binding for GTK 2.2 (and GTK 2.4 after that) is going to be a lot easier and quicker. All the infrastructure is in place, so it is a simple matter of adding the new APIs. The 2.0 to 2.2 delta is much smaller than the 1.2 to 2.0 delta.

It is a similar story for the Gnome bindings, although we will probably skip to Gnome 2.4, since it is almost out and contains some new APIs that are interesting from a language bindings perspective. I won't need to rewrite the CORBA bindings this time either :).