Expect Leo 6.8.7 on Friday, October 10

[Edward K. Ream]

Python 3.14 is planned for Tuesday October 7, so it would be convenient to release the next version of Leo three days later. Of course I'll release Leo 6.8.7 earlier if there is reason to do so.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Friday, August 22, 2025 at 4:15:29 PM UTC-5 Edward K. Ream wrote:

Python 3.14 is planned for Tuesday October 7, so it would be convenient to release the next version of Leo three days later. Of course I'll release Leo 6.8.7 earlier if there is reason to do so.

I have just installed Python 3.14 without incident. All of Leo's tests pass on Windows. I plan to release Leo 6.8.7 this Friday, October 10, as scheduled.

Edward

[rengel]

Hi,

yesterday I updated my machine from Windows 10 to Winddos 11. Today, I completely removed all my old Python installations and then installed the new Python 3.14. From Python I did a fresh install of Leo from PyPi (`python -m pip install leo`) as described on the Leo website. During the install I got the following WARNING:

When I start leo, I get the following error:

The environment contains the correct paths to Python and Python\Scripts.

[Viktor Ransmayr]

@rengel,

rengel schrieb am Donnerstag, 9. Oktober 2025 um 16:43:08 UTC+2:

Hi,

yesterday I updated my machine from Windows 10 to Winddos 11. Today, I completely removed all my old Python installations and then installed the new Python 3.14. From Python I did a fresh install of Leo from PyPi (`python -m pip install leo`) as described on the Leo website. During the install I got the following WARNING:

When I start leo, I get the following error:

The environment contains the correct paths to Python and Python\Scripts.

You installed the latest version of Leo from PyPI, which is version 6.8.6.1.

This version does NOT yet support Python 3.14.0 !

If you want to try it out before Edward releases version 6.8.7, you have to use the 'devel' branch from GitHub.

See https://leo-editor.github.io/leo-editor/installing.html#installing-leo-from-github

With kind regards,

Viktor

[Thomas Passin]

I don't think that's it - PyQt6.sip normally gets installed during a PyQt6 installation. 

[Thomas Passin]

I just installed Python 3.14 on Windows 11. Then I created a new virtual environment and pip-installed Leo into it. PyQt6.sip got installed and Leo ran normally. Something went wrong when @rengel tried installing Leo, I think, because PyQt6 didn't install normally.

I'd suggest creating a venv like I did and trying it that way.

[rengel]

Thank you for your answers!

I waited for a couple of days to install the latest version of leo. But in vain. I tried both the pip install and the install from github. But in both cases I get the same error shown in my original post. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that neither launchLeo.py nor PyQt6.sip have been installed. And the installation didn't install a Leo home directory for me.

[rengel]

A correction: The installation from github did install launchLeo.py. But starting 'python launchLeo.py' still results in the error: 

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'PyQt6.sip'. (I did install the requirements.)

[Thomas Passin]

Pretty strange, all right.  I just installed 6.8.7 into another new venv and it worked as expected. It installed leo.exe into the venv's Scripts directory, which is convenient since you only have to type "leo" to launch.

What version of Python are you using?  It's possible that the PyQt6 install for that version has something wrong with it, I suppose. Or the particular version of PyQt6 has an install problem.

Do you know how to set up a virtual environment (venv) for Python? I think you should try that next (although I don't have an explanation for the missing PyQt6.sip). I'll sketch out what to do, and if you already are familiar with using venvs, just ignore me and proceed with what you know.

Decide on a location.  I will use c:\venv as the base directory. You can use somewhere else, of course. Open a console window and type

py -m venv c:\venv\leo

When the command returns a new virtual environment in the c:\venv\leo directory will have been set up.  To use a venv, you have to activate it. Type

c:\venv\leo\Scripts\activate

to do so. Notice that the prompt changes to remind you that you are using the "leo" venv. Some system and Python paths will have been set up, and the Scripts directory will now be on the path for the duration of the session with the venv. Next install Leo:

py -m pip install leo

When this is done, just type leo. Leo should run. If you still get the error about the missing sip component, then I think it will be time to install an earlier version of Python and try with that. Or maybe try to install an earlier version of PyQt6.  

[lewis]

After updating to Python 3.14 I had the same problem starting Leo.

File "N:\git\leo-editor\leo\core\leoQt.py", line 6, in <module>
    from PyQt6 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'PyQt6.sip'

I needed to uninstall packages PyQt6 and PyQt6_sip, then reinstall. Leo then worked fine. Both my desktop PC and laptop had the same issue.

There have been other packages which did not work correctly with Python 3.14 and a package reinstall was needed.

[Thomas Passin]

That's one reason to try to install to a new venv.  There won't be any left-over bits to confuse the installer.