qt gui fails on recent OS X homebrew due to outdated pyqt

[NikolausDemmel]

From here http://answers.ros.org/question/186630/indigo-rqt_image_view-depends-on-build_isolated/?answer=186648#post-id-186648:

rosrun rqt_image_view rqt_image_view                                                                                                                              
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "/opt/ros/indigo/lib/rqt_image_view/rqt_image_view", line 8, in <module>
        sys.exit(main.main(sys.argv, standalone='rqt_image_view'))
      File "/opt/ros/indigo/lib/python2.7/site-packages/rqt_gui/main.py", line 59, in main
        return super(Main, self).main(argv, standalone=standalone, plugin_argument_provider=plugin_argument_provider, plugin_manager_settings_prefix=str(hash(os.environ['ROS_PACKAGE_PATH'])))
      File "/opt/ros/indigo/lib/python2.7/site-packages/qt_gui/main.py", line 336, in main
        from python_qt_binding import QT_BINDING
      File "/Users/tatsch/ros_catkin_ws/build_isolated/python_qt_binding/bdist.macosx-10.9-intel/egg/python_qt_binding/__init__.py", line 55, in <module>
      File "/Users/tatsch/ros_catkin_ws/build_isolated/python_qt_binding/bdist.macosx-10.9-intel/egg/python_qt_binding/binding_helper.py", line 262, in <module>
      File "/Users/tatsch/ros_catkin_ws/build_isolated/python_qt_binding/bdist.macosx-10.9-intel/egg/python_qt_binding/binding_helper.py", line 81, in _select_qt_binding
      File "/Users/tatsch/ros_catkin_ws/build_isolated/python_qt_binding/bdist.macosx-10.9-intel/egg/python_qt_binding/binding_helper.py", line 147, in _load_pyqt
      File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/PyQt4/Qwt5/__init__.py", line 32, in <module>
        from Qwt import *
    RuntimeError: the sip module implements API v11.0 to v11.1 but the PyQt4.Qwt5.Qwt module requires API v10.1

It seems like python_qt_binding generates sip modules for API v11.0, but on OSX/Homebrew PyQt is version 10.

My (not yet successful) attempt to update the pyqt formula to 11.0: Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#30881

[NikolausDemmel]

@wjwwood making you aware of this. I didn't immediately succeed in building PyQt 11.0 (see the linked homebrew issue), but I also didn't look into it deeply.

[NikolausDemmel]

This is what I get when I run it without PyQt installed:

$ rosrun rqt_image_view rqt_image_view
Could not import "pyside" bindings of qt_gui_cpp library - so C++ plugins will not be available:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/demmeln/work/indigo_test_ws/install/lib/python2.7/site-packages/qt_gui_cpp/cpp_binding_helper.py", line 39, in <module>
    import libqt_gui_cpp_shiboken
ImportError: No module named libqt_gui_cpp_shiboken

qt_gui_main() found no plugin matching "rqt_image_view"

[NikolausDemmel]

In particular this also means that rqt_gui does not work (crashes with same error).

[DorianScholz]

Just to clarify, there are 4 ways how rqt plugins run:

when running rqt with PyQt (preferred):

1. Python only plugins just using PyQt bindings
2. C++ Plugins using SIP

when running rqt with PySide:
3) Python only plugins just using PySide bindings
4) C++ Plugins using Shiboken

(you can force the binding using the option "-b pyside" or "-b pyqt")

You are trying to run rqt_image_view which is a C++ plugin.
First you tried with PyQt installed and therefore tested case 2), which failed because of the old SIP API in Homebrew.
-> This should be fixed in Homebrew if possible.

Then you tried running it without PyQt (using PySide) therefore testing case 4), which failed because of the missing libqt_gui_cpp_shiboken.
-> Why is this library missing? Should be part of the qt_gui_cpp package, unless the Shiboken bindings are not being compiled for OSX...

Lastly you tried running just rqt_gui (still using PySide?) therefore testing case 3).
This should work, as rqt_gui it self is Python only.
-> If you are getting the same error as for rqt_image_view, this most likely means, that your ~/.config/ros.org/rqt_gui.ini still has an rqt_image_view open in the saved perspective. Try deleting the ini file.

[NikolausDemmel]

Thanks for the clarification. This helps a lot. Your analysis seems to be spot on.

1. PyQT should be fixed in python. I just checked by manually compiling pyqt. It seems to compile successfully if just invoking ./configure-ng.py && make. But the homebrew formula does in fact do an additional step to first call ./configure.py. A comment says this is for generating the needed pyqtconfig.py file, which is indeed not generated with ./configure-ng.py. However if I manually do run ./configure.py && ./configure-ng.py && make, I do run into the compilation issue (linking libQtCore failed with duplicate symbols: http://pastebin.com/tQ69f0eq). Would a possible fix maybe involve running the ./configure.py separately to get the pyqtconfig.py file? Maybe in a different folder, or with a make distclean before ./configure-ng.py?
2. It might be that shiboken bindings are not being built on mac. I will have to look into qt_gui_cpp. pyside and shiboken are installed from homebrew by rosdep, but maybe it is not being picked up by the compilation. Any hints are welcome.
3. If I run rqt_gui without any plugins and with PyQt uninstalled, it does run, but tells me that no C++ plugins will be working because of missing shiboken. This is what you would expect given your explanation.

[NikolausDemmel]

So shiboken is not being built because it is version 1.2.2 and the CMakeLists.txt checks for that.

CMake Warning at src/qt_gui_cpp_shiboken/CMakeLists.txt:46 (message):
  Shiboken version 1.2.2 would segfault when trying to process qt_gui_cpp
  (see https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/PYSIDE-218).  Therefore
  shiboken bindings are being skipped.

Is this still the state of affairs? Is there a fix? Do we need custom pyside/shiboken 1.2.1 homebrew formulae?

EDIT: last working version without this issue seems ot be 1.1.1

[NikolausDemmel]

It might be that 1.2.2 is not affected any more; @dirk-thomas any thoughts as the original reporter of this issue over at https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/PYSIDE-218?

[dirk-thomas]

Since I don't see any part of it having changed I would expect that the problem still exists. Could someone try it on Ubuntu to confirm that?

[NikolausDemmel]

@dirk-thomas: Do interpret three green [Ok] when running the test.sh in your shiboken testing repo linked from the issue corretly, when conclude that on my system (with 1.2.2) I do not seem to be affected by this issue?

[dirk-thomas]

Yes, that seems to be working for you then. On Ubuntu Trusty you get 1.2.1 and with that one I still get a segfault.

I guess we should try the Utopic package (which is 1.2.2) and see if it is also fixed for that. If yes we could reenable it for version numbers >= then 1.2.2.

[dirk-thomas]

Sadly the Utopic packages do not resolve the problem on Ubuntu. The test still segfaults for me.

[NikolausDemmel]

Apart from not being built because of the shiboken version check, there is another issue with shiboken, namely that the code looking for libqt_gui_cpp_shiboken assumes a .so suffix, where as on OS X the suffix is .dylib. For the sip bindings, there is a manual check on APPLE to force it to .so. I assume a similar hack can be done for shiboken, but the better fix would maybe be to fix the discovery code to pick up .dylib libraries on OS X.

With a manual libqt_gui_cpp_shiboken.so symlink I can launch rqt_gui without the shiboken warning, but it immediatly segfaults: http://pastebin.com/B6cf4RP6 I don't know if this is related to the known shiboken issue?

[NikolausDemmel]

@dirk-thomas: Could the difference for your testing module with 1.2.2 on OS X / Utopic be related to boost / qt version, or the compiler?

[NikolausDemmel]

I got pyqt 4.11.1 to compile on OS X (see Homebrew/legacy-homebrew#30881), given that, I guess we can ignore the sheboken issues.

[dirk-thomas]

I tried the Ubuntu package from saucy providing the shiboken compiler which segfaults for me. Yes it could also be related to the boost version. But when I tried it last I think an older version of shiboken worked fine on the same system.

[NikolausDemmel]

PyQt 4.11.1 has been released into homebrew. brew update and brew upgrade pyqt should fix this for people.

I guess we can close this and ignore shiboken, as it seems to be quite broken anyway.

[dirk-thomas]

Thanks for fixing PyQt on OS X.