Build 2.79 or 2.78c with Python 3.6 - doable?

Blender Development Building Blender
#1

Hello, I realize this is a long shot, but I hope there is someone on the forum who can help.

I am stuck with using 2.79 or 2.78c on Linux (Ubuntu18) for a project, but a lot of the pre-existing python scripts I need to use are written for python 3.6, and the 3.5 interpreter that comes with the stock Blender binary distribution is giving me a huge amount of pain, as some of the python code either doesn’t work outright, or is one change away from being broken by eager developers who are into f-string or type annotations.

Could someone please please (with cherry on top :slight_smile: please tell me if rebuilding one of those old Blender versions with python 3.6 is possible, and give me some hints/ a recipe for how to do it?

Thanks very much for your help, any hints appreciated.
F.

#2

Hi F.

It might be possible, AFAIK Python 3.5 and 3.6 aren’t hugely different on the inside. Have you built Blender from source before?

Sybren

#3

Hi Sybren,

Thanks replying. I have not built Blender before - but can find my way around. Main problem I have at the moment is how to find the required external library dependencies (which, oddly enough, include python). I am following Building Blender/Linux/Ubuntu - Blender Developer Wiki but it pulls deps for much more recent versions of Blender (including python 3.7+). Do you happen to have a build recipe for 2.78c?

Thanks
F.

#4

For 2.7x we had no libraries available in svn for linux, so you’re mostly on your own getting those, blender/build_files/build_environment/install_deps.sh (the best way to get the deps in the 2.7x era) may offer some relief there, but i’ll be honest it’ll likely be an uphill struggle.

#5

Thanks LazyDodo.

Well, at this point there is evidence that it is possible at least for 2.79 - I just realized that Ubuntu18 includes a ‘blender’ package that installs 2.79 using the system python 3.6: Ubuntu – Details of package blender in bionic It also lists the direct dependencies, so it might get me started.

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