Remove install_python_bindings.py script and update docs

`install_python_bindings.py` was not used by CI
and scripts, except for `scripts/run-python-test.sh`
which only used it to invoke `cargo`.

Instead of using an additional script,
run cargo directly.

The documentation is updated to remove
references to `install_python_bindings.py`.
The section "Installing bindings from source"
was in fact incorrect as it suggested
running `tox --devenv` first and only then
compiling the library with `install_python_bindings.py`.
Now it explicitly says to run cargo first
and then install the package without using `tox`.
`tox` is still used for running the tests
and setting up development environment.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 - Update rPGP to 0.10.1. #4236
 
 ### Fixes
+- Fix python bindings README documentation on installing the bindings from source.
 
 ## [1.112.3] - 2023-03-30
 

python/README.rst

@@ -12,17 +12,17 @@ a low-level Chat/Contact/Message API to user interfaces and bots.
 Installing pre-built packages (Linux-only)
 ==========================================
 
-If you have a Linux system you may try to install the ``deltachat`` binary "wheel" packages
+If you have a Linux system you may install the ``deltachat`` binary "wheel" packages
 without any "build-from-source" steps.
 Otherwise you need to `compile the Delta Chat bindings yourself`__.
 
 __ sourceinstall_
 
-We recommend to first `install virtualenv <https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/installation.html>`_,
+We recommend to first create a fresh Python virtual environment
-then create a fresh Python virtual environment and activate it in your shell::
+and activate it in your shell::
 
-        virtualenv env  # or: python -m venv
+    python -m venv env
-        source env/bin/activate
+    source env/bin/activate
 
 Afterwards, invoking ``python`` or ``pip install`` only
 modifies files in your ``env`` directory and leaves
@@ -40,16 +40,14 @@ To verify it worked::
 Running tests
 =============
 
-Recommended way to run tests is using `tox <https://tox.wiki>`_.
+Recommended way to run tests is using `scripts/run-python-test.sh`
-After successful binding installation you can install tox
+script provided in the core repository.
-and run the tests::
 
-    pip install tox
+This script compiles the library in debug mode and runs the tests using `tox`_.
-    tox -e py3
+By default it will run all "offline" tests and skip all functional
-
-This will run all "offline" tests and skip all functional
 end-to-end tests that require accounts on real e-mail servers.
 
+.. _`tox`: https://tox.wiki
 .. _livetests:
 
 Running "live" tests with temporary accounts
@@ -61,13 +59,32 @@ Please feel free to contact us through a github issue or by e-mail and we'll sen
 
     export DCC_NEW_TMP_EMAIL=<URL you got from us>
 
-With this account-creation setting, pytest runs create ephemeral e-mail accounts on the http://testrun.org server.  These accounts exists only for one hour and then are removed completely.
+With this account-creation setting, pytest runs create ephemeral e-mail accounts on the http://testrun.org server.
-One hour is enough to invoke pytest and run all offline and online tests::
+These accounts are removed automatically as they expire.
+After setting the variable, either rerun `scripts/run-python-test.sh`
+or run offline and online tests with `tox` directly::
 
-    tox -e py3
+    tox -e py
 
 Each test run creates new accounts.
 
+Developing the bindings
+-----------------------
+
+If you want to develop or debug the bindings,
+you can create a testing development environment using `tox`::
+
+    tox -c python --devenv env
+    . env/bin/activate
+
+Inside this environment the bindings are installed
+in editable mode (as if installed with `python -m pip install -e`)
+together with the testing dependencies like `pytest` and its plugins.
+
+You can then edit the source code in the development tree
+and quickly run `pytest` manually without waiting  for `tox`
+to recreating the virtual environment each time.
+
 .. _sourceinstall:
 
 Installing bindings from source
@@ -89,20 +106,34 @@ To install the Delta Chat Python bindings make sure you have Python3 installed.
 E.g. on Debian-based systems `apt install python3 python3-pip
 python3-venv` should give you a usable python installation.
 
-Ensure you are in the deltachat-core-rust/python directory, create the
+First, build the core library::
-virtual environment with dependencies using tox
-and activate it in your shell::
 
-   cd python
+   cargo build --release -p deltachat_ffi --features jsonrpc
-   tox --devenv env
+
+`jsonrpc` feature is required even if not used by the bindings
+because `deltachat.h` includes JSON-RPC functions unconditionally.
+
+Create the virtual environment and activate it:
+
+   python -m venv env
    source env/bin/activate
 
-You should now be able to build the python bindings using the supplied script::
+Build and install the bindings:
 
-   python3 install_python_bindings.py
+   export DCC_RS_DEV="$PWD"
+   export DCC_RS_TARGET=release
+   python -m pip install python
 
-The core compilation and bindings building might take a while,
+`DCC_RS_DEV` environment variable specifies the location of
-depending on the speed of your machine.
+the core development tree. If this variable is not set,
+`libdeltachat` library and `deltachat.h` header are expected
+to be installed system-wide.
+
+When `DCC_RS_DEV` is set, `DCC_RS_TARGET` specifies
+the build profile name to look up the artifacts
+in the target directory.
+In this case setting it can be skipped because
+`DCC_RS_TARGET=release` is the default.
 
 Building manylinux based wheels
 ===============================

python/install_python_bindings.py

@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-
-"""
- setup a python binding development in-place install with cargo debug symbols.
-"""
-
-import os
-import subprocess
-import sys
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    target = os.environ.get("DCC_RS_TARGET")
-    if target is None:
-        os.environ["DCC_RS_TARGET"] = target = "debug"
-    if "DCC_RS_DEV" not in os.environ:
-        dn = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
-        os.environ["DCC_RS_DEV"] = dn
-
-    cmd = ["cargo", "build", "-p", "deltachat_ffi", "--features", "jsonrpc"]
-
-    if target == "release":
-        os.environ["CARGO_PROFILE_RELEASE_LTO"] = "on"
-        cmd.append("--release")
-
-    print("running:", " ".join(cmd))
-    subprocess.check_call(cmd)
-    subprocess.check_call("rm -rf build/ src/deltachat/*.so src/deltachat/*.dylib src/deltachat/*.dll", shell=True)
-
-    if len(sys.argv) <= 1 or sys.argv[1] != "onlybuild":
-        subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-e", "."])

python/tox.ini

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ deps =
     pygments
     restructuredtext_lint 
 commands =
-    black --quiet --check --diff setup.py install_python_bindings.py src/deltachat examples/ tests/
+    black --quiet --check --diff setup.py src/deltachat examples/ tests/
     ruff src/deltachat tests/ examples/
     rst-lint --encoding 'utf-8' README.rst
 

scripts/run-python-test.sh

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export DCC_RS_DEV=`pwd`
 
 cd python
 
-python install_python_bindings.py onlybuild
+cargo build -p deltachat_ffi --features jsonrpc
 
 # remove and inhibit writing PYC files 
 rm -rf tests/__pycache__
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ export PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
 # run python tests (tox invokes pytest to run tests in python/tests)
 #TOX_PARALLEL_NO_SPINNER=1 tox -e lint,doc
 tox -e lint
-tox -e doc,py3
+tox -e doc,py