Differences

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--- supported_hardware:homekit [2019/02/21 16:35] – [Known Issues] James Sentman
+++ supported_hardware:homekit [2021/05/20 18:49] – added fix information for not needing a separate python install James Sentman
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 ====Requirements:====
-The Home Kit plugin absolutely requires Python 3.7 or newer. As of MacOS 10.14 this is not included in the standard software like Python 2.7 is. You must install it separately. The easiest way to do this is via one of the binary installers available from [[https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/|Python.org Releases]] As of this writing the latest release version is 3.7.2. I would not recommend installing alpha or beta releases. Please use the 64-bit installer and not the combined 64/32 bit installer since XTension does not support 32 bit only hardware anymore anyway.
-If you use the above installer then the binary positions will be correct and you can ignore this paragraph. If you already have Python3 installed or decide to instead build from source please make sure that the python3 binary file, or a symbolic link to it, is available at /usr/local/bin/python3 or the plugin will not be able to find it to execute itself.
+As of version 9.4.40 a separate python install is no longer required. No other work is needed to run the homekit plugin. If you are working with a version prior to 9.4.40 the install instructions are preserved below:
-The plugin itself and all necessary dependencies are included in the current XTension distribution so no further installs are required once you have completed the Python3 install.
+The Home Kit plugin requires that Python 3.7 be installed on the host machine. It does not have to be the default python version in use if you have multiple installs and it can coexist happily with multiple python versions if you are using the environment management systems. If you use an installer from python.org the default install location will be in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7 which is what is needed for this plugin to work properly. Download Python 3.7 from the [[https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/|Python.org Releases]] page. Please download the 64 bit only version as 32 bit apps will not continue to run on newer OS versions.
+Xtension versions prior to 9.4.35 required python 3.7 be the “active” version of python meaning that typing “python3” from the command line would bring up the python 3.7 version even if others were installed. Versions 9.4.35 and later only require that the install be present in the default location but do not need it to be the default version on the system anymore.
 ====Setup:====
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 The Bridge Name must be unique compared to any other Home Kit Accessories on your local network.
-The Port should be left at the default unless you wish to run more than one instance of the plugin at the same time. In which case you’ll have to choose a different unique port for each one.
+The Port should be left at the default unless you wish to run more than one instance of the plugin at the same time. In which case you’ll have to choose a different unique port for each one. Note that at this moment Home Kit doesn’t seem to connect properly if you change this port number or try to create more than one instance of a bridge on the same machine.
 The “Update Config” button asks any paired Home Kit apps to reload the configuration. After adding new units or if you change the settings or names of those units you may have to click this button to force the new units or changes to appear in the Home Kit apps. At this time Apple’s home kit app does not seem to load any changes to any existing units at all. If you need to change the name of a unit in Home Kit you’ll need to do it from the Home Kit app itself as these changes don’t reliably get loaded into the App. Adding new units is no problem however, click the Update Config button and the changes will show up. Also if you add units while the interface is not enabled they may not show up when you enable it unless you click this button. This button is disabled unless the plugin is enabled.
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 The QR code and Pin will be blank if the plugin is not enabled. You cannot link to this plugin until you enable the plugin.
 ====Database Sharing Settings:====
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 As of this moment Home Kit doesn’t seem to support running more than one bridge plugin instance on the same machine. Additional instances fail to pair properly.
+Any battery operated device currently reports a low battery status all the time to Home Kit and not just when the battery is low. This will be sorted out in the next release for now ignore the low battery flags.
 ====History====
   * The first beta of the Home Kit plugin was included in XTension version 9.4.16 in Feb of 2019
+  * As of XTension 9.4.35 it was no longer necessary that Python 3.7 was the “active” version on the system but it still requires that 3.7 be installed in the default /Library/Frameworks location in MacOS. See the Requirements section above for more info.
+  * As of XTension 9.4.40 a separate python version install is no longer required.