Add July 2025 status update. #694
There are no files selected for viewing
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ | ||||||
| title: July 2025 Status Update | ||||||
| --- | ||||||
| author: Russell Keith-Magee | ||||||
| --- | ||||||
| body: | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| In July, BeeWare hit some more major milestones in our work on mobile packaging - but we also found time to make some improvements to other parts of BeeWare. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| ## What we've done | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| - We attended [EuroPython](https://ep2025.europython.eu), where we gave a tutorial and a talk, attended the WebAssembly summit, and ran a sprint - at which we gave out 25 BeeWare challenge coins to first-time contributors. | ||||||
| - [cibuildwheel 3.1](https://pypi.org/project/cibuildwheel/3.1.0/) has been released - which includes support for building Android wheels! As a result, we've been able to submit a pull request for [lru-dict](https://github.com/amitdev/lru-dict/pull/74); we're expecting to submit Android support PRs for other projects in the coming months. | ||||||
| - We started the process of [adding Android builds to CPython's CI](https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/137186). This also means we're in a position to [generate Android release artefacts as part of the release process](https://github.com/python/release-tools/pull/265) - possibly as soon as Python 3.14. | ||||||
| - The [Emscripten buildbot is now passing all tests](https://buildbot.python.org/#/builders/1810)! This formally [restores Emscripten to the Tier-3 support level](https://peps.python.org/pep-0011/#tier-3). | ||||||
| - [Pillow 11.3.0](https://pypi.org/project/pillow/11.3.0/#files) has been released, including official iOS wheels. | ||||||
| - We submited a pull request to add [iOS support for NumPy](https://github.com/numpy/numpy/pull/28759). This PR is waiting on a release of `meson-python` before it can be submitted for review, but it is passing the NumPy test suite. | ||||||
| - [Briefcase has been updated to use WiX 5.0](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2355). This enabled us to resolve a number of issues related to MSI support, including resolving an issue with [long file names in packaged content](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2390). | ||||||
| - We added support for [port forwarding when running Android apps](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2369). This will be used as part of adding debugger support to Briefcase. | ||||||
| - We added a new [topic guide on publishing apps to the macOS App Store](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2360). | ||||||
| - We improved a number of error messages generated by Briefcase, providing more guidance on [how to run an iOS app on device](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2410), [problems that can be caused by virus scanners](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2400), and how to resolve [inconsistent file content in macOS wheels](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2397). | ||||||
| - We reviewed our contribution guides for [Briefcase](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/pull/2363) and [Toga](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3597) to remove inconsistencies in the contribution experience. | ||||||
| - We added a [DateInput widget to Toga's GTK backend](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3647) | ||||||
|
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Suggested change
|
||||||
| - We [completed a review of Toga's example code to ensure that they all run without warnings, and use the current preferred syntax for describing styles](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3638). | ||||||
| - We [corrected the naming of the wheel for Toga's Winforms backend](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3648) to reflect that it contains a platform-specific binary. | ||||||
| - We added [a shorthand property for defining all the features of a widget's font in one declaration](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3631). | ||||||
| - We [simplified Toga's color representations to be better aligned with CSS color interpretations](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3665). | ||||||
| - We [refactored Toga's font handling](https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/3569) so that font loading logic (and, in particular, error handling) is consistent across platforms. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| ## What's next? | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| With cibuildwheel now supporting both iOS and Android, our work on binary packaging can now shift fully to the upstream projects that will use cibuildwheel to produce wheels. Over the coming months, we expect to submit PRs to more upstream projects; we're also planning to look at packaging that *doesn't* use cibuildwheel (such as Rust-based packages that use Maturin for packaging). We're also going to start documenting what we've learned about binary packaging for iOS and Android, so that the wider community can start contributing iOS and Android recipes. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| We're also going to continue the process of integrating the production of iOS and Android binary artefacts into Python's CI and release processes. We've already begun this process for Android; iOS requires a little more preparatory work, which will be a major area of focus in August. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| Lastly, we're planning to look at adding post-install scripts to Briefcase installers. We'll be focussing on Windows installers initially; but the intention is that any changes we implement could also be implemented on macOS or Linux. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| ## Want to get involved? | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| Want to get involved? We curate issues that should be approachable for first-time contributors to BeeWare. They're all relatively minor changes, but would provide a big improvement to the lives of BeeWare users: | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| - If you're interested in the tooling for deploying applications to various platforms, take a look at [Briefcase](https://github.com/beeware/briefcase/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3A%22good%20first%20issue%22) | ||||||
| - Or, if you're interested in GUI widgets, take a look at [Toga](https://github.com/beeware/toga/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3A%22good%20first%20issue%22) | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| These lists can also be filtered by platform - so you can find issues that are specific to your preferred operating system. Pick one of these tickets, drop a comment on the ticket to let others know you're looking at it, and try your hand at a PR! We have a [guide on setting up a Briefcase development environment](https://briefcase.readthedocs.io/en/latest/how-to/contribute-code.html); but if you need any additional assistance or guidance, you can ask on the ticket, or join us on the [BeeWare Discord server](https://beeware.org/bee/chat/). | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| --- | ||||||
| mastodon_handle: @freakboy3742@cloudisland.nz | ||||||
| --- | ||||||
| pub_date: 2025-08-01 | ||||||
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.
Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.
Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.
You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.
Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.
This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.
Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.
Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.
Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Choose a reason for hiding this comment
The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.
Unless "on device" is a technical phrase, this should probably be updated.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Choose a reason for hiding this comment
The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.
It is... ish. "On device" and "on a device" would both be correct; "on a device" is probably less confusing to a non-technical audience.