Kubuntu 26.04 installation failure

wxPython Users
1

Hello,

I tried different options (what’s on the ‘downloads’ page of the site, via pip, using binary wheel from GitHub), neither worked.

I’m getting this error:

      Error running configure
      ERROR: failed building wxWidgets
      Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "/tmp/pip-install-4ukhis_k/wxpython_50473bbf0a274af18b3482d62e7b582c/build.py", line 1606, in cmd_build_wx
          wxbuild.main(wxDir(), build_options)
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        File "/tmp/pip-install-4ukhis_k/wxpython_50473bbf0a274af18b3482d62e7b582c/buildtools/build_wxwidgets.py", line 385, in main
          exitIfError(wxBuilder.configure(dir=wxRootDir, options=configure_opts, env=env),
          ~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                      "Error running configure")
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        File "/tmp/pip-install-4ukhis_k/wxpython_50473bbf0a274af18b3482d62e7b582c/buildtools/build_wxwidgets.py", line 70, in exitIfError
          raise builder.BuildError(msg)
      buildtools.builder.BuildError: Error running configure
      Finished command: build_wx (0m3.237s)
      Finished command: build (0m3.237s)

I’m confused. I don’t intend to work on the lib code. I only need the components.
But the ‘extras’ don’t even include a binary for 26.04.
Is it going to be published any time soon?

2

Got a response from one of the lib authors(? maybe).

After running

pip install https://github.com/wxWidgets/Phoenix/releases/download/wxPython-4.3.1/wxpython-4.3.1+ubuntu2604-cp314-cp314-linux_x86_64.whl

the installation went through.
But the import still fails:

>>> import wx
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<python-input-0>", line 1, in <module>
    import wx
  File "/home/.../Software/notify_py_/.venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/wx/__init__.py", line 17, in <module>
    from wx.core import *
  File "/home/.../Software/notify_py_/.venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/wx/core.py", line 12, in <module>
    from ._core import *
ImportError: libpcre2-32.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
>>>
3

Hello. Currently there are no binary wheels being distributed for linux for technical reasons. AFAIK your two options are install via the package manager using apt wxpython4.0 or, if you need a more recent version, compile from the source wheel as described here.

4

Well, I managed to install it from the GitHub binary.

But now the app starts w/o even showing the main window.

No stack trace, just the app log messages in the console but no window displayed. I was also putting an icon in the system tray and it’s not showing in there either.

Not sure how specific the code should be because the last time it worked it was run on XFCE (Xubuntu 20.04). Now I upgraded to Kubuntu 26.04 and have this issue.

Was some breaking change introduced in the lib so I have to rewrite the app or something?

5

I don’t think you should have to change anything. Do the examples run? E.g. python simple.py? (Phoenix/samples/simple at master · wxWidgets/Phoenix · GitHub)

6

Let me try.
I will keep you posted.

Didn’t think about running a sample app.

7

The sample opened the main app window okay.

Looks like some breaking changes were introduced.
Will have to work on the app code again.