Please use pkg-config to detect icu

[hughmcmaster]

icu-config has been deprecated by its upstream developers for some years now. In icu 63.1, icu-config is optional to install, but installed by default. In the next version, icu-config will no longer be installed by default.

The developers recommend downstream packages use pkg-config to detect the icu libraries.

Please let me know if you need any help with this change.

[ovalhub]

I've never used pkg-config before. What is an example command line to detect the icu libs and headers using pkg-config ? Thanks !

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On Nov 28, 2018, at 07:50, Hugh McMaster ***@***.***> wrote: icu-config has been deprecated by its upstream developers for some years now. In icu 63.1, icu-config is optional to install, but installed by default. In the next version, icu-config will no longer be installed by default. The developers recommend downstream packages use pkg-config to detect the icu libraries. Please let me know if you need any help with this change. — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[hughmcmaster]

If you are familiar with autoconf, read https://autotools.io/pkgconfig/pkg_check_modules.html for a good overview of pkg-config.

To use pkg-config with Python, I highly recommend https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig, as its syntax is basically the same as the autoconf macro. This webpage also has some nice examples of calls. (This module is available from https://pypi.org/project/pkgconfig/).

To get started, use pkgconfig.exists('icu-i18n'), pkgconfig.cflags('icu-i18n') and pkgconfig.libs('icu-i18n').

You could also use icu-uc if internationalization is not important (see http://userguide.icu-project.org/howtouseicu).

[ovalhub]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2018, Hugh McMaster wrote: If you are familiar with `autoconf`, read https://autotools.io/pkgconfig/pkg_check_modules.html for a good overview of `pkg-config`. To use `pkg-config` with Python, I highly recommend https://github.com/matze/pkgconfig, as its syntax is basically the same as the `autoconf` macro. This webpage also has some nice examples of calls. (This module is available from https://pypi.org/project/pkgconfig/). To get started, use `pkgconfig.exists('icu-i18n')`, `pkgconfig.cflags('icu-i18n')` and `pkgconfig.libs('icu-i18n')`. You could also use `icu-uc` if internationalization is not important (see http://userguide.icu-project.org/howtouseicu).

Thank you for all the information. It seems that pkg-config is not pre-installed on Mac OS (or Windows, I assume), thus this is a Linux only solution (albeit, a good replacement for icu-config) without any extra installs. With hindsight, the use of icu-config for building PyICU has caused more harm than good for people for which it didn't work or for people that didn't have it installed. At this point, I'm *very* tempted to revert that change and let people edit setup.py or set the relevant env vars as documented in setup.py instead as has been the case in the past. Andi..

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[hughmcmaster]

No problem. pkg-config isn't pre-installed on any operating system, even Linux.

I'm happy to create a patch for you. Just let me know.

[ovalhub]

On Dec 2, 2018, at 07:00, Hugh McMaster ***@***.***> wrote: No problem. pkg-config isn't pre-installed on any operating system, even Linux.

Are you thus proposing people install pkg-config before installing pyicu ?

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I'm happy to create a patch for you. Just let me know. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[hughmcmaster]

Yes. Think of pkg-config as another build-dependency (like a library you might link with).

Distributions such as Debian or Ubuntu will automatically install pkg-config as a required dependency, so users don't need to worry about that. pkg-config is also easily installed on macOS and Windows. Users on those platforms will be familiar with the steps to do that.

Ultimately, though, this decision is yours.

[ovalhub]

On Mon, 3 Dec 2018, Hugh McMaster wrote: Yes. Think of pkg-config as another build-dependency (like a library you might link with). Distributions such as Debian or Ubuntu will automatically install pkg-config as a required dependency, so users don't need to worry about that. pkg-config is also easily installed on macOS and Windows. Users on those platforms will be familiar with the steps to do that.

That's a no-no. I'm not adding more dependencies to PyICU. If icu-config disappears, so be it. PyICU is already distributed by debian and similar distros. For the others, as long as icu-config exists and is found, it's a bit easier than editing the setup.py file or setting env vars.

Ultimately, though, this decision is yours.

Thank you for the offer but I'm already regretting accepting the icu-config patch. Granted, I only see mail from people who have trouble installing, who have never used a C++ toolchain, not from the ones for which is just works (tm) but it seems to have caused more grief than ease. Replacing it with two dependencies (pkg-config and its python wrapper) is hardly going in the right direction. Andi..

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[ziima]

Hi @ovalhub: Although pyicu has packages as part of distributions, it doesn't help in cases we need to use virtualenv. Until now, it just worked, but since icu-config was removed, I don't quite see an easy way out.

[ovalhub]

On Feb 4, 2019, at 05:16, Vlastimil Zíma ***@***.***> wrote: Hi @ovalhub: Although pyicu has packages as part of distributions, it doesn't help in cases we need to use virtualenv. Until now, it just worked, but since icu-config was removed, I don't quite see an easy way out.

icu-config was removed ? when ?

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[ziima]

In debian it was removed lately, with libicu-dev 61-63, see https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=920900 that's how I got to this issue.

Currently I lack an alternative way to install pyicu to virtualenv without the icu-config.

[ovalhub]

On Feb 4, 2019, at 23:44, Vlastimil Zíma ***@***.***> wrote: In debian it was removed lately, with libicu-dev 61-63, see https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=920900 that's how I got to this issue. Currently I lack an alternative way to install pyicu to virtualenv without the icu-config.

Oh, I see. Indeed. Well, we're back then to the way PyICU was installed before it used icu-config: - edit setup.py to have the right values for CFLAGS, INCLUDES, LFLAGS that correspond to how icu is installed on your system - or set the corresponding env vars (see setup.py) instead of editing setup.py Then, run: $ path/to/vmenv/bin/python setup.py build install The use of icu-config was neat, when it worked, but didn't have good failure modes. PyICU is distributed in source only and needs to be compiled to match your environment, which both icu-config and python setuptools/distutils know. If icu-config is gone then we're back to manually editing setup.py. The pkg-config solution is not portable and introduces new dependencies, making it too complicated (when compared to setting three vars)

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[wfdd]

Can't pkg-config be used with an env var fallback?

[ovalhub]

On Feb 5, 2019, at 09:45, [ɣʷufd̥] ***@***.***> wrote: Can't pkg-config be used with an env var fallback?

How do you use pkg-config from setup.py, without installing something else, on Linux and Mac (and Windows to be complete) ?

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[ovalhub]

I now added support for falling back to trying pkg-config (Linux only) when icu-config is not present. This is only available at HEAD at the moment. Please, try it out and let me know if it works for you. And, as usual, if it doesn't work, you're not stuck. Just set PYICU_CFLAGS and PYICU_LFLAGS so that the compiler can find the ICU header files and libraries. Thanks ! Andi..

[ziima]

Thanks for the fix. We tested it and it works both with icu-config and with pkg-config (without icu-config).

[ovalhub]

On Wed, 6 Feb 2019, Vlastimil Zíma wrote: Thanks for the fix. We tested it and it works both with `icu-config` and with `pkg-config` (without `icu-config`).

Excellent ! Thank you for testing.

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[ovalhub]

fixed by invoking pkg-config like is done for icu-config

[ziima]

Can we expect a new release with the fix?

[ovalhub]

On Feb 19, 2019, at 01:01, Vlastimil Zíma ***@***.***> wrote: Can we expect a new release with the fix?

Yes, when ICU 64 gets released. Andi..

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