[android] Electrum not working on Sony devices (only v2.9.3 and prior working)

[darwusch]

This issue has been mentioned already:
#3213
However, I don't feel it has got enough attention which is why I post this under a different title.

Due to Kivy not working on Sony android devices (since using Python3) Electrum crashes immediately on startup.

To use my wallet on my Sony stock android phone, I have to use old Electrum version 2.9.3.

[bauerj]

Since it seems to be a bug in kivy, there is nothing we can do about it.

[darwusch]

Ofcourse there is, using Kivy with Python3 is a choice.
Why choose something which does not work on so many devices?

[bauerj]

Because Electrum is not compatible to Python 2.

[darwusch]

Electrum version 2.9.3 and prior, were working fine.

[SomberNight]

Electrum version 2.9.3 and prior, were working fine.

Yes, but then the project was migrated to Python 3. It was deemed to be too much work going forward to maintain compatibility with both Python 2 and 3 (developer resources are limited), especially as we wanted to start using Python3-specific functionality.

[darwusch]

...and leaving millions of people who can not use Electrum anymore with the current code.

[bauerj]

As of now this issue seems to be limited to two users only.

We still take it seriously but there are more important issues right now.

[darwusch]

Ofcourse it is not only 2 users. Most people just see it crash and simply use another wallet.
It's every user with these Sony phones and maybe more.

Besides, the Kivy package used now in Electrum, is tagged "experimental" for python3 on their website.
Is that the standard for something important as a wallet?

[fdiengdoh]

Samething with my Motorola moto m with Android 7. Can't scan we code. And it just crash.

[bauerj]

@fdiengdoh Does it crash immediately on startup?

[fdiengdoh]

Not immediately but after few mins. And can't scan QR code.

[bauerj]

Then what you see is not related to this issue. Please collect the log output and open a separate issue.

Also make sure you have this app installed as it is a dependency for QR code scanning right now.

[fdiengdoh]

just today there's a security update on my phone and then i reinstall electrum along with the barcode app and it didn't crash anymore. I'll create a new issue if there's crash but now I guess its pointless.

[fdiengdoh]

anyway I've just recreated the crash will open a new issue

[ser]

Electrum 3 is properly working on my two Sony devices, tablet Z4 and phone Z5

[bauerj]

@darwusch What about you? Since you said it affects all Sony devices it should be fixed now?

[darwusch]

No, it's not fixed.
Force close immediately on devices:
Sony Xperia XA Ultra (android 7)
Sony Xperia Z5 compact (android 7)

And error "Could not load ctypes" on device:
Sony Xperia XZ1 (android 8)

[bauerj]

Too bad ☹️ Do you know any differences to ser's Z5 that could explain the different behaviour?

[darwusch]

I don't know what android version ser uses on his Z5.
The hardware/android distro from Sony is almost the same on the Z5 series.
But the devices where it FC's are all rooted. Earlier developers told me that this could not be the cause, but I'm having doubts about that.

[ser]

Yes, I have not upgraded to 7 as it results in many problems with apps. My devices are rooted of course.

[darwusch]

So, which version of android do you use?

[ser]

6 - i don't see any practical sense with upgrading to 7, it slows down the devices, creates many compatibility problems.

[darwusch]

Ok, so we can safely assume that also the Sony Xperia Z5 has a Force Close on Android 7, because it is virtually the same as my Z5 compact.

[bauerj]

Well, If it's due to a buggy Android version, there's not really much we can do.

[darwusch]

No it is not, it is a problem with Kivy and Electrum.
Please help fix the issue, in stead of trying ignore this by saying it is not an Electrum issue.
Kivy with Python3 is still experimental, so it should not be used in something important as a wallet.

[ecdsa]

@darwusch if you can identify that this is a kivy issue, why dont you report it in the kivy project?

[darwusch]

@ecdsa Because Kivy with Python3 is still experimental, so it should not be used in something important as a wallet. But Electrum uses this.

Furthermore, the bugs are probably just some paths defined incorrectly, so could be fixed within Electrum.

[bauerj]

Because Kivy with Python3 is still experimental

Is it? As far as I know it's considered stable.

Furthermore, the bugs are probably just some paths defined incorrectly

Can you tell us what paths to change?

[darwusch]

The official website says it is Experimental:
http://python-for-android.readthedocs.io/en/latest/buildoptions/
"Python3 support is experimental, and some of these details may change as it is improved and fully stabilised."

No, I can not find the bug myself, you can see the syslogs I posted, both here on the Electrum github, as well as the Kivy github.

[darwusch]

Bug still present in v3.1.0.
Still force close immediately on start.

[rdymac]

A friend was not able to run current Electrum 3.2.1 on Android 4.2.1 (and another phone pretty similar to it), with the same error of “could not load library libpython3.6m.so”.

I have it correctly running in Android 4.3.0, 4.4.4, and 5.1 phones though.

kivy/python-for-android#1188 (comment)

[rdymac]

This person said to have found a fix for the “SDL library not found” issue: kivy/python-for-android#645 (comment)

• AND: libpython3.6m.so.1.0 is missing in python3.6.1 pyenv/pyenv#917

[darwusch]

This bug has been finally fixed since v3.3.0

[SomberNight]

Did you reopen by mistake?

[darwusch]

yes, it's fixed

[kjendis]

Just had this issue today on a huawei honor 6. Reinstalled electrum from Google play, same issue again

[ser]

It's 5 years old drastically modified Android called Emotion UI, it's really hard to support it :(