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Comment by mherrmann | Hacker News Reader

For people interested in an example of a Qt app, check out (my) cross-platform file manager https://fman.io. It currently uses PyQt. I hope Qt for Python will become stable enough so I can make the switch.

Developing cross-platform desktop apps is hard. To help with this, I open sourced my build system [1]. It lets you release (Py)Qt apps in minutes instead of months. It aims to make (Py)Qt a more viable alternative to Electron. It already has preliminary support for Qt for Python, and I want to expand it in the future.

[1]: https://build-system.fman.io

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Just FYI: I saw this comment and:

1) went to your link -> intensive blinking, firefox reporting that it "forbade access to graphics card" for whichever reason

2) Was impressed that Windows file is only 1 MB (turns out the installer downloads a lot more than that, which is ok but could be mentioned)

3) Started the program and agreed with tutorial

4) Followed tutorial to C:\Users\myusername\Desktop

5) Followed tutorial by pressing Backspace -> program stopped working and crashed

No hate intended, but if you want people to use this, you should probably think about fixing some of the steps to be less cumbersome :).

FWIW the program looks cool.

Thank you for the feedback.

1) No idea why that happened. I'm really not doing anything special on the web site.

2) You're right, sorry. The Windows binary is an online installer. I'll update the web site to mention that once the load is off the server.

5) Hm... Sorry about that. Would be extremely interesting to know if this happens on your computer every time. It's probably too much to ask since you already uninstalled, but if you have a few mins, can you try again?

> if you want people to use this, you should probably think about fixing some of the steps to be less cumbersome

That's literally what I spend my days working on. Desktop apps are a lot of work...

> FWIW the program looks cool.

Thanks!

Went back and installed a second time. The web page no longer blinks and after the installation finished, the program did not crash and I was able to finish the tutorial.

I wanted to try a third time, but after a third reinstall, the tutorial no longer pops up. Is there a way to clear EVERYTHING away and try again as if this was a new computer?

Thanks! You can close fman and delete the data directory [1]. Or, you can start the tutorial again via the Command Palette [2].

[1]: https://fman.io/docs/data-directory

[2]: https://fman.io/docs/tutorial

My understanding is that much of the official work on the Qt libraries over the last few years, has been to do with assisting rapid application development. What was your reason for going with Python over the nearest official alternative, 'Qt Quick'?

(Qt Quick uses webby technologies like JavaScript, but of course retains support for C++. Incidentally it also seems to be where their backend work is focused - their shiny Direct3D 12 engine is for Qt Quick only, as far as I know.)

Rapid application development involves an application, and for the purpose of writing application logic Python tends to be more advanced than Javascript, easier to write than C++, and with a better set of libraries than both.

How do you package the binary for release? I think that's one of the biggest pain points right now, otherwise I would be much more inclined to do something with Qt.

I tried PyInstaller for some scripts a few weeks ago and it worked perfectly and easily, but I don't know if it works with Qt.

https://build-system.fman.io/

I can't believe I read around the important bits of the second paragraph. Thanks.

EDIT: Wait, what about BSD/MIT/etc licenses?

GPL or commercial only, sorry. I really do need the income.

I've been following your project for a while and I wish you good luck. I like what I'm seeing and I hope it succeeds! :)

Thank you :-)

I just tried fman and it is quite impressive. Fast af and clearly (?) inspiered by Sublime Text. Beautiful!

Thanks! Yes, my goal is to bring innovation from ST to the file manager niche. Besides the UI, Cmd/Ctrl+P for jumping to folders and a similar Command Palette, this shows in the Python-based plugin API [1].

[1]: https://fman.io/docs/api

Nice work with fman I have been playing with it over the last couple of weeks and like it alot.

Thank you! I'm very happy to hear you like it.

> I hope Qt for Python will become stable enough so I can make the switch.

Why do you want to switch?

Actually, I'm very happy with PyQt. It works great. But I'm afraid that its more restrictive licensing limits the global audience of "Qt & Python" users. My hope is that Qt for Python will make the combination even more popular.

TL;DR you want avoid paying the PyQT developers for a commercial license.

No, that's not it. As I said, PyQt is excellent and I'm happy to be paying for such quality work.

There's nothing wrong with hoping a freely licensed open source competitor will come along and lower the cost of developing in the space.

PyQT are free to extract fees from the ecosystem as long as they can, just as some open source devs are free to try to eat their lunch money.

> its more restrictive licensing limits the global audience

That means not everyone has a business model that supports paying a license fee.

"If you need a special feature .... pressing F10"

If only I had F10 on my keyboard ... Is it even possible to use PyQT and have features like touch bar support?

What issues have you experienced with PySide2 so far that is preventing the switch?

To be honest, I'm holding back with switching until Qt for Python is more mature. My app is installed on tens of thousands of machines and I don't dare risk breaking it yet.

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