Need help in setting up a Development environment

[gabox01]

Hello,

Quote from the docs:

"The next step is to set the environment variable CALIBRE_DEVELOP_FROM to the absolute path of the src directory. So, following the example above, it would be /home/kovid/work/calibre/src. How to set environment variables depends on your Linux distribution and what shell you are using."

What's the reason behind this? I don't want to run any pre-made binaries, I'd like to run the whole thing from source, including the GUI. Any way to achieve that?

"That’s it! You are now ready to start hacking on the calibre code. For example, open the file src\calibre\__init__.py in your favorite editor and add the line:

print ("Hello, world!")
near the top of the file. Now run the command calibredb. The very first line of output should be Hello, world!"

I don't understand this.Why should I run calibredb after making changes to the source? Run what command with calibredb?

Sorry if I look dumb, but I would expect source files, libraries, and a main method to run. Nothing else.

Thanks

[kovidgoyal]

You are running the whole thing from source including the GUI.

And using calibredb is simply an easy way to check that you have setup things correctly.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by gabox01

Hello,

Quote from the docs:

"The next step is to set the environment variable CALIBRE_DEVELOP_FROM to the absolute path of the src directory. So, following the example above, it would be /home/kovid/work/calibre/src. How to set environment variables depends on your Linux distribution and what shell you are using."

What's the reason behind this? I don't want to run any pre-made binaries, I'd like to run the whole thing from source, including the GUI. Any way to achieve that?

The instructions explicitly state "You have two choices in setting up the development environment. You can install the calibre binary as normal and use that as a runtime environment to do your development."

You've chosen to look at the binary install development method, rather than setting up a Linux source build. If you didn't want to run someone else's premade binaries, then obviously you need to build them yourself...

But, are you trying to develop the C extension code? If not, what is wrong with using the pre-made binaries together with your modified python code?

"That’s it! You are now ready to start hacking on the calibre code. For example, open the file src\calibre\__init__.py in your favorite editor and add the line:

print ("Hello, world!")
near the top of the file. Now run the command calibredb. The very first line of output should be Hello, world!"

I don't understand this.Why should I run calibredb after making changes to the source? Run what command with calibredb?

Sorry if I look dumb, but I would expect source files, libraries, and a main method to run. Nothing else.

Thanks

What makes you think you're not running a main() method? That command runs:

from calibre.db.cli.main import main
sys.exit(main())

Which is definitely a main() method. It just happens to first execute calibre/__init__.py before doing anything else interesting.

[gabox01]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

The instructions explicitly state "You have two choices in setting up the development environment. You can install the calibre binary as normal and use that as a runtime environment to do your development."

You've chosen to look at the binary install development method, rather than setting up a Linux source build. If you didn't want to run someone else's premade binaries, then obviously you need to build them yourself...

But, are you trying to develop the C extension code? If not, what is wrong with using the pre-made binaries together with your modified python code?



What makes you think you're not running a main() method? That command runs:

from calibre.db.cli.main import main
sys.exit(main())

Which is definitely a main() method. It just happens to first execute calibre/__init__.py before doing anything else interesting.

I guess I just don't understand this whole 'use the binary as runtime' concept. Your explanation didn't make anything clearer to me in that regard.

I'm not familiar with python, but in the Java world, when I want to run any app from source, I compile the sources, look for the main class, and just run the thing. No precompiled binaries needed. Please explain to me at a kindergarten level why this is even an option because i don't get it.

[itimpi]

It is worth reading up on how Python works. Python does not have a traditional compile phase and uses a “Just-in-time” technique for the python source code. By starting with the compiled binaries you make certain that all dependencies (C modules, libraries etc) are installed. If now install the source as well then any modules that have been changed will use the updated Python source.

Going right back to basics and building non-Python components is a much bigger task and not one that is required if you are only making alterations at the Python level.

[gabox01]

Originally Posted by itimpi

It is worth reading up on how Python works. Python does not have a traditional compile phase and uses a “Just-in-time” technique for the python source code. By starting with the compiled binaries you make certain that all dependencies (C modules, libraries etc) are installed. If now install the source as well then any modules that have been changed will use the updated Python source.

Going right back to basics and building non-Python components is a much bigger task and not one that is required if you are only making alterations at the Python level.

Thanks, it is much clearer now.
Would it be technically possible to put those C modules, libraries etc.. in a directory in binary form, and make them available to your python code, so you don't have to use a binary at all? In Java, you can use the classpath to achieve that.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by gabox01

Thanks, it is much clearer now.
Would it be technically possible to put those C modules, libraries etc.. in a directory in binary form, and make them available to your python code, so you don't have to use a binary at all? In Java, you can use the classpath to achieve that.

that is effectively what you are doing when you use the suggested method for setting up a development environment! The Calibre binary install location becomes the place where the python interpreter looks for required modules when running from Calibre python source.