20 August 2013
Nuitka Release 0.4.5
This is to inform you about the new stable release of Nuitka. It is the extremely compatible Python compiler, “download now”.
This release incorporates very many bug fixes, most of which were already part of hot fixes, usability improvements, documentation improvements, new logo, simpler Python3 on Windows, warnings for recursion options, and so on. So it’s mostly a consolidation release.
Bug Fixes
When targeting Python 3.x, Nuitka was using “python” to run Scons to run it under Python 2.x, which is not good enough on systems, where that is already Python3. Improved to only do the guessing where necessary (i.e. when using the in-line copy of Scons) and then to prefer “python2”. Fixed in 0.4.4.1 already.
When using Nuitka created binaries inside a “virtualenv”, created programs would instantly crash. The attempt to load and patch
inspectmodule was not making sure thatsitemodule was already imported, but inside the “virtualenv”, it cannot be found unless. Fixed in 0.4.4.1 already.The option
--recurse-directoryto include plugin directories was broken. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.Python3: Files with “BOM” marker causes the compiler to crash. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.
Windows: The generated code for
try/return/finallywas working with gcc (and therefore MinGW), but not with MSVC, causing crashes. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.The option
--recurse-alldid not recurse to package__init__.pyfiles in casefrom x.y import zsyntax was used. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.Python3 on macOS: Corrected link time error. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.
Python3.3 on Windows: Fixed crash with too many arguments to a kwonly argument using function. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.
Python3.3 on Windows: Using “yield from” resulted in a link time error. Fixed in 0.4.4.2 already.
Windows: Added back XML manifest, found a case where it is needed to prevent clashes with binary modules.
Windows: Generators only worked in the main Python threads. Some unusual threading modules therefore failed.
Using
sys.prefixto find the Python installation instead of hard coded paths.
New Features
Windows: Python3 finds Python2 installation to run Scons automatically now.
Nuitka itself runs under Python3 just fine, but in order to build the generated C++ code into binaries, it uses Scons which still needs Python2.
Nuitka will now find the Python2 installation searching Windows registry instead of requiring hard coded paths.
Windows: Python2 and Python3 find their headers now even if Python is not installed to specific paths.
The installation path now is passed on to Scons which then uses it.
Better error checking for
--recurse-toand--recurse-not-toarguments, tell the user not to use directory paths.Added a warning for
--recurse-toarguments that end up having no effect to the final result.
Cleanups
Import mechanism got cleaned up, stopped using “PyImport_ExtendInittab”. It does not handle packages, and the
sys.meta_pathbased importer is now well proven.Moved some of the constraint collection code mess into proper places. It still remains a mess.
Organizational
Added
LICENSE.txtfile with Apache License 2.0 text to make it more immediately obvious which license Nuitka is under.Added section about Nuitka license to the User Manual.
Added Nuitka Logo to the distribution.
Use Nuitka Logo as the bitmap in the Windows installer.
Use Nuitka Logo in the documentation (User Manual and Developer Manual).
Enhanced documentation to number page numbers starting after table of contents, removed header/footer from cover pages.
Summary
This release is mostly the result of improvements made based on the surge of users after Europython 2013. Some people went to extents and reported their experience very detailed, and so I could aim at making e.g. their misconceptions about how recursion options work, more obvious through warnings and errors.
This release is not addressing performance improvements. The next release will be able to focus on that. I am taking my claim of full compatibility very serious, so any time it’s broken, it’s the highest priority to restore it.