[Pyobjc-dev] PyObjC 2.x status

[Ronald O. <ron...@ma...>]

This is short update on the current status of PyObjC 2.x.  Development  
of PyObjC is still moving forward, although much slower than I'd  
like.  The primary reason for the lack of progress is that I'm working  
on test coverage for the framework wrappers, which is necessary but  
very unrewarding work.  I'm getting ever closer to finishing that  
task, and therefore closer to a release...

The current status:

Most frameworks now have full test coverage for API's defined in  
header files. That is, all functions defined in header files are  
called, as well as methods with difficult signatures (buffer  
arguments, in/out/inout arguments, ...). Furthermore constant  
definitions are checked as well.   Adding these tests is  
timeconsuming, but necessary because it is the only way to know if the  
framework wrappers are actually working.  While adding these tests  
I've fixed a number of bugs, both in the framework wrappers and the  
core.

The major frameworks that don't have full test coverage yet are Cocoa,  
Quartz and WebKit. All of them are large and contain a lot of  
functionality that needs actual testing.

Plans for the near future:

I hope to finish the test coverage before PyCon'09.  The next PyObjC  
(and the first one in a very long time) will be done when test  
coverage is finished.

There is still a lot of work to do for releases beyond that:

* All examples need to be tested and cleaned up. All references to  
PyObjCTools.AutoBaseClass should be removed from example code.

* The documentation and website need some loving, most information is  
there but not in necessarily in a easily findable or comprehensible  
manner.

* Py2app needs work as well. It should be way more egg-aware and  
should contain better hooks for adding functionality (such as a way to  
add "recipes" from external packages).

* PyObjC 2.x should already support Tiger, but I'm not testing that  
support because I don't need it. I haven't even looked at supporting  
Snow Leopard yet.  With some luck this only needs updated framework  
wrappers, and some support for new language features.

Ronald