Migrate Python-based Nautilus extensions to Python 3

Summary

The Python backend for the nautilus-python extension will be updated from python2 to python3. All Nautilus extensions written in Python will need to be checked for Python 3 compatibility and updated if necessary. Extensions compatible only with Python 2 will no longer be supported.

Owner

Name: Kalev Lember, Frank Dana
Email: klember@redhat.com, ferdnyc@gmail.com
Release notes owner:

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora 30
Last updated: 2019-01-07
Tracker bug: #1664077
Release notes tracker: #278

Detailed Description

The nautilus-python package allows Nautilus extensions to be written in the Python scripting language. In Fedora releases up to and including Fedora 29, these extensions were executed in a Python 2 environment. With the general move to Python 3 as Fedora's default Python runtime and the impending deprecation of Python 2, nautilus-python will execute extension code in a Python 3 context. Compatibility with Python 3 will be required for all Python-based Nautilus extensions.

(Note: In Fedora 28 the nautilus-python package was named python2-nautilus. For Fedora 29 the name has been reverted to nautilus-python to better indicate its status as a Nautilus component.)

Benefit to Fedora

In addition to eliminating nautilus-python's direct dependency on Python 2, this change will remove all Python-based Nautilus extensions from the list of Fedora components which still require the legacy Python 2 interpreter (which has been deprecated, and is slated for removal). It will allow us to ensure that all Python-based Nautilus extensions still in use are fully compatible with Python 3.

Scope

Proposal owners: Build nautilus-python with Python 3 support and deploy.

Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release engineering: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
- List of deliverables: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Upgrade/compatibility impact

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

How To Test

Launch the Nautilus file manager and verify that any functionality provided by Python-based extensions is still available.

User Experience

As long as Python 3 compatibility is verified for all Nautilus Python extensions, users will see no impact from this change. If any extensions are not compatible with Python 3 and must be removed, users may notice loss of certain functionality from Nautilus.

Dependencies

Any Nautilus extensions which use nautilus-python will have to be checked for Python 3 compatibility. Repackaging should not be necessary, as the nautilus-python dependency Required by those packages will be carried forward to Python 3 builds.

The list of packages in the Fedora 29 repos which depend on nautilus-python is, as of 2018-11-08:

kde-connect-nautilus
nautilus-font-manager
nautilus-pastebin
nautilus-phatch
nextcloud-client-nautilus
nitroshare-extension-nautilus
onionshare
owncloud-client-nautilus
qdigidoc-nautilus
rabbitvcs-nautilus
tilix-nautilus
tortoisehg-nautilus

Contingency Plan

Continue shipping builds of nautilus-python based on Python 2.

Contingency mechanism: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)
Blocks product? None

Documentation