Green-Recorder "SyntaxError: invalid syntax" when executing the binary, python 2.7, Fedora 32

TheJooomes · 05-18-2020, 09:03 PM

I get this output when executing the green-recorder binary

Code:

[james@localhost green-recorder-master]$ ./green-recorder 
  File "./green-recorder", line 74
    print "You are recording on: " + str(DisplayServer)
          ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

So my first thought was there's a syntax error 'cause it says it right there. I don't know python at all so I'd have no hope of fixing it myself, and I can't find any complaints about it with the project so it's probably correct and something else is the problem.

This isn't a big priority for me so I ain't gonna spend days figuring out python, I'm hoping someone with time to burn who does know python can help me out with this, if not, eh.

Oh yea, I do have the python27 package installed for python 2 support.

berndbausch · 05-18-2020, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJooomes

Oh yea, I do have the python27 package installed for python 2 support.

It looks like green-recorder is written in Python2, but the interpreter you use is Python3. In Python3, print is a regular function and requires parentheses.

You installed Python2, but I guess you are still using Python 3 as the default interpreter. Right now, I see two options:

modify green-recorder to use Python2. You do this by writing the path to the Python2 executable after a "#!" (known as "hash-bang") in the first line of the program.
Create a symbolic link from Python2 to /usr/bin/python. You need to be aware that this affects all other Python programs. It's probably not the best solution.

TheJooomes · 05-18-2020, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by berndbausch

It looks like green-recorder is written in Python2, but the interpreter you use is Python3. In Python3, print is a regular function and requires parentheses.

You installed Python2, but I guess you are still using Python 3 as the default interpreter. Right now, I see two options:

modify green-recorder to use Python2. You do this by writing the path to the Python2 executable after a "#!" (known as "hash-bang") in the first line of the program.
Create a symbolic link from Python2 to /usr/bin/python. You need to be aware that this affects all other Python programs. It's probably not the best solution.

The current "hash-bang" is #!/usr/bin/python, I changed that to #!/usr/bin/python2.7 after making sure that /usr/bin/python2.7 exists. (I also tried #!/usr/bin/python2, same results)

This time I'm getting

Code:

[james@localhost green-recorder-master]$ ./green-recorder 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./green-recorder", line 17, in <module>
    import gi
ImportError: No module named gi

What I can figure out from that gi error is the gi module is missing. A little looking up and I think it's related to pygobject2, I found it in the repos and installed it, green recorder still won't launch. A whereis couldn't find pygobject2, pygobject, gobject, or gi, so I'm not really sure what the binaries for it are named but I'm pretty sure it installed correctly.

berndbausch · 05-19-2020, 01:15 AM

Not sure if you consider that progress

Modules are usually stored somewhere under /usr/lib/pythonXYZ. Check around there.

shruggy · 05-19-2020, 02:56 AM

The package python2-gobject was dropped from Fedora 32. From the changelog:

Quote:

2020-01-16 - Miro Hrončok <mhroncok@redhat.com> - 3.34.0-4
- Subpackages python2-gobject, python2-gobject-base, python2-gobject-devel have been removed
See https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/RetirePython2

Your options are:

install via pip2 from PyPI
rebuild from Fedora 31 source

The same applies to python2-pydbus which is also required by Green Recorder.

But the best option, IMO, would be to find another screen recording application. From Green Recorder's README:

Quote:

This project is archived, it's no longer under development. As the original developer, the work of maintaining and updating this program takes too much of my time, which I was giving for free, and I am no longer interested in working with things like ffmpeg/wayland/GNOME's screencaster or solving the issues related to them or why they don't work. If you would like to continue development, please feel free to fork the project according to the GPL license.

TheJooomes · 05-20-2020, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

But the best option, IMO, would be to find another screen recording application.

I would love to find another screen recorder application that's full native Wayland. The closed I could find is OBS with it's X11/Wayland plug-in, but OBS locks up when I give it permission to view my screen. I'm open to suggestions, I was contemplating between making a thread to see if I could fix Green Recorder and making a thread to look for Wayland screen recorders. My last thread about Wayland didn't do so well so I decided to make this one.