Detect Python 2 activities

[quozl]

Sugar on a Python 3 platform does not detect and warn about Python 2 activities; they are installed, but fail to start, and the logs contain nothing.

[amannaik247]

Hey @quozl could you please checkout pr #992 regarding this issue

[Maryam3107]

Sugar on a Python 3 platform does not detect and warn about Python 2 activities; they are installed, but fail to start, and the logs contain nothing.

I would like to work on this issue. kindly assign this to me

[chimosky]

Hi @Maryam3107 we don't assign issues, anyone is free to work on the issue.

Looking forward to your contribution.

[BharZInstein]

Hey is this issue still open? Can i try working on this?

[quozl]

Why don't you test Sugar and find out? Or you could look at the commits in the repository.

[Maryam3107]

I will trynsoon

…

On Sat, 15 Mar 2025 at 04:48, James Cameron ***@***.***> wrote: Why don't you test Sugar and find out? Or you could look at the commits in the repository. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#991 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BNK25XZENLWOZVRYSOBXU432UNTGBAVCNFSM6AAAAABUFU7WQCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDOMRWGAYTOMBZGM> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***> [image: quozl]*quozl* left a comment (sugarlabs/sugar#991) <#991 (comment)> Why don't you test Sugar and find out? Or you could look at the commits in the repository. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#991 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BNK25XZENLWOZVRYSOBXU432UNTGBAVCNFSM6AAAAABUFU7WQCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDOMRWGAYTOMBZGM> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[ahmadtariq1]

Hey @quozl, please review this:

Modifying sugar-toolkit-gtk3 so that before installing the activity in the designated folder we unzip the activity to a temporary folder.(or other possible efficient alternatives)

Check for shebang:

If #!/usr/bin/python3 , then it should continue as before
Else if #!/usr/bin/env python or (in rare cases) -> #!/usr/bin/env python2

then we scan the script and look for old python2 code.

If found, we can stop and write in logs or even display error messages.
Kindly let me know if this is the right approach so that I start working on it.

[quozl]

Protection at install stage is not useful. Users may upgrade Sugar on an existing system. Bundles may be unpacked by school or department scripting.

Also, you cannot determine the required version of Python using the #! as some distributions use python for either Python 2 or Python 3.

Also, /usr/bin/env adds no value. It is ritualistic.

Have you even tried to install and run a Python 2 activity on a Python 3 bound Sugar?

[quozl]

Puzzled by the lack of progress on this issue, and the number of desires, speculations and misdirections we've had to endure. I'll push the issue along now.

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 Sugar 0.121 without Python 2, with Slider Puzzle activity master branch before the port to Python 3 (95aaa6d). Results are;

• Sugar Home View displays the launcher animation for about a minute,
• Launcher eventually reports "Slider Puzzle failed to start." with a "Stop" button,
• Log file org.worldwideworkshop.olpc.SliderPuzzle-1.log contains nothing,
• Log file shell.log contains;

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 590, in msg_reply_handler
    reply_handler(*message.get_args_list(**get_args_opts))
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/sugar3/activity/activityfactory.py", line 251, in _activate_reply_handler
    self._create_activity()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/sugar3/activity/activityfactory.py", line 228, in _create_activity
    child = subprocess.Popen([str(s) for s in command],
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 1026, in __init__
    self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 1955, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'sugar-activity'

If the activity is started in Terminal using the sugar-activity3 debugging method, the result is "Activity written for Python 2, consider porting to Python 3". So clearly this has been detected by src/sugar3/activity/activityinstance.py

So faults are;

• the failure to run the activity is not handled,
• the launcher continues animating long after the failure,
• the activity log doesn't even have a gravestone.

What is needed;

• reduce the launcher animation timeout to about ten seconds,
• handle the FileNotFoundError exception,
• detect the "sugar-activity" in the exception message, write a line to the log, and display an explanation for failed to start.

Anyone interested in doing this?

[ahmadtariq1]

Also, you cannot determine the required version of Python using the #! as some distributions use python for either Python 2 or Python 3.

I meant the same thing, I guess it didn’t come out clearly.

Also, /usr/bin/env adds no value. It is ritualistic.

Copied from the top of the files to simply provide an example.

Have you even tried to install and run a Python 2 activity on a Python 3 bound Sugar?

Yes I have ran an older version of calculate activity, logs were empty. Tried using strace, but I didn’t have time to dig deeper..

Protection at install stage is not useful. Users may upgrade Sugar on an existing system. Bundles may be unpacked by school or department scripting.

Your solution makes more sense, handling this in launch stage.

I'll try to come up with a pr.

[ahmadtariq1]

@quozl is this enough or do I have to display in ui as well?
Currently it displays: "Failed to start".
Would really appreciate a swift response.

[quozl]

What's the rush? We've had the problem for years.

The message should be similar in nature to the existing failed to start message, but with an explanation as to why it failed. The message should be included in the translation catalog.

Child learners are unlikely to know about Python 2 vs Python 3, so the message should be written for the learner and teacher. Not a developer.