Python 3 on Android using TerminalIDE I want to code Python 3 on my Android device. So I went through Lanky Cyril's blog post on using the Terminal IDE to put all that I needed to do code on an Android terminal. For Python 2.X that is installed on the blog, it works like a charm.

So I installed Python 3 using the same instructions. This is what I get when I try to start Python 3:

terminal++:~$ ~/python3                                                                                                                                              
Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: unable to load the file system codec
LookupError: no codec search functions registered: can't find encoding
Segmentation fault 


I made sure:

export PYTHONHOME=/data/data/com.googlecode.python3forandroid/files/python3
export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONHOME}/lib/python3.2/lib-dynload


I also checked on why python 3 is not loading  on StackOverflow.

So the problem could be the python build. Has anyone worked around this?
I worked out the solution by going to the Python-for-Android (Py4A) home and found the script that allows Python3 to run as a "Stand alone" on Android.

There are 3 ways to do this:


I created the "standalone.sh" script, saved it at "HOME"(export HOME=/data/data/com.spartacusrex.spartacuside/files),
changed its mode to executable, called it and python appeared.
I opened the ~/.bashrc and pasted copied in the code:



 export EXTERNAL_STORAGE=/mnt/sdcard/com.googlecode.python3forandroid
 export PY34A=/data/data/com.googlecode.python3forandroid/files/python3
 export PY4A_EXTRAS=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE/extras
 PYTHONPATH=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE/extras/python3
 PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:$PY34A/lib/python3.2/lib-dynload
 export PYTHONPATH
 export TEMP=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE/extras/python3/tmp
 export PYTHON_EGG_CACHE=$TEMP
 export PYTHONHOME=$PY34A
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$PY34A/lib
 $PYTHONHOME/bin/python3 "$@"



Note that this means every time you launch Terminal IDE, you will automatically load Python and find yourself at the Python prompt.


To launch Python the normal way, like shown by Lanky Cyril, paste the following code in the .bashrc:



export EXTERNAL_STORAGE=/mnt/sdcard/com.googlecode.python3forandroid
export PY34A=/data/data/com.googlecode.python3forandroid/files/python3
export PY4A_EXTRAS=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE/extras
PYTHONPATH=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE/extras/python3
PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:$PY34A/lib/python3.2/lib-dynload
export PYTHONPATH
export TEMP=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE/extras/python3/tmp
export PYTHON_EGG_CACHE=$TEMP
export PYTHONHOME=$PY34A
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$PY34A/lib



You will notice that the last line in the second solution has been taken out and put in an executable file "~/python". Here is the code:

  #!/system/bin/sh   
  /data/data/com.googlecode.python3forandroid/files/python3/bin/python3 "$@"


I used the second one so that when I launch Terminal IDE, I get my Python prompt instantly. I installed the third solution so that, should I leave the Python prompt, I have a way to get back in the same terminal session.