Import issues with 1.7.0

[opoplawski]

I'll note that I know nothing about Python FFI interfaces. I'm looking at updating the Fedora python-xcffib package to 1.7.0. This is now building with gcc and making an arch dependent package. When I try to then build cairoffi, it fails with:

../BUILDROOT/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/cairocffi/__init__.py:18: in <module>
    from .ffi import ffi
../BUILDROOT/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/cairocffi/ffi.py:26: in <module>
    ffi.include(xcb_ffi)
/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/cffi/api.py:527: in include
    raise TypeError("ffi.include() expects an argument that is also of"
E   TypeError: ffi.include() expects an argument that is also of type cffi.FFI, not 'FFI'

Do you know what is going on here? Does cairoffi need to be updated or is xcffib doing something strange? Thanks.

[tych0]

hmm. cc @georgeharker.

Can you print the type of xcb_ffi there? We clearly broke something with the 1.7 release, but it's not obvious what...

[georgeharker]

Yes, I'll look into that, I suspect this is to do with how cairo sub includes xcffib as part of it's own cffi - I have pending changes of a similar form for cairocffi.

[georgeharker]

This is because cairo imports xcffib and builds on it as part of its cffi, when xcffib is in api mode, cairo can't sub include it without similar treatment. I'll work with them to get that sorted. I have a similar pangocffi change pending.

[tych0]

Does cffi expose some metadata about what mode it was compiled in?

[tych0]

I wonder if we should revert until cairocffi's changes land?

[georgeharker]

I'm not sure other than the type being different - that's an unfortunate unforseen side effect as I was developing all 4 patches at the same time. It's not totally trivial to fix aside from reverting to abi mode, which would mean disabling the compiler part of the install.

I'd love to get the corresponding fixes into cairocffi and pango

[georgeharker]

I'm wondering that too. I'll try and get in touch directly with @Kozea

[tych0]

hmm. based on the discussion in that thread, seems like we should revert for now, since the path forward is unclear and not likely to be quick.

[georgeharker]

I agree. I may suggest an optional api mode over at Cairo with an env var for install, and I'll see if I can figure out a way to make that work offline.

[tych0]

Ok, I went ahead and released 1.7.1 with the revert; I've left this issue open so we can figure out what to do using it as a place for discussion.

[georgeharker]

Thanks and again appreciate your efforts.