Fixing Broken Python GI Bindings

Fixing Broken Python GI Bindings | Generated by AI

Home 2025.10

Updated Diagnosis

Based on the new details, your Python 3.13.7 installation (likely manual or via PPA/source) has broken the system’s GObject Introspection (GI) bindings. The gi module’s _gi C extension is compiled for your distro’s default Python (probably 3.10 or 3.11, given the directories in /usr/lib/python), not 3.13. This causes the circular import error when gnome-terminal (a Python script) tries to load it. The multi-version setup in /usr/lib/python confirms this mismatch—system packages like python3-gi aren’t built for 3.13 yet (it’s too new for most distros as of 2025).

The UFW logs remain irrelevant noise.

Recommended Fix: Revert to System Default Python

The cleanest solution is to switch /usr/bin/python3 back to your distro’s default (e.g., 3.10), then reinstall GI bindings. This avoids hacks like copying .so files, which can cause inconsistencies.

Identify and switch to the default Python version (use update-alternatives if configured; otherwise, manual symlink):
```
# Check if alternatives are set up
sudo update-alternatives --config python3
```
- If it lists options, select the lowest priority one (usually the distro default, like 3.10).
- If no alternatives (common on stock Ubuntu), manually revert:
```
# Assuming default is 3.10 (common for Ubuntu 22.04; swap to 3.11 if that's your base)
sudo rm /usr/bin/python3
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3.10 /usr/bin/python3
```
- Verify: python3 --version should now show 3.10.x (or your default).

Reinstall GI and GNOME Terminal packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --reinstall python3-gi gir1.2-glib-2.0 gnome-terminal

Test:
```
python3 -c "from gi.repository import GLib, Gio; print('GI OK')"
gnome-terminal
```
- If the Python test passes but terminal still fails, reset its config: dconf reset -f /org/gnome/terminal/.

If You Want to Keep Python 3.13

This is trickier, as official python3-gi won’t exist for 3.13 yet. You’d need to compile PyGObject from source:
1. Install build deps: sudo apt install libgirepository1.0-dev libcairo2-dev pkg-config python3.13-dev.
2. Download and build PyGObject: Follow official guide with --prefix=/usr/local.
3. But this risks breaking other system tools—revert if issues arise.

Or, hackily copy the _gi extension (not recommended long-term):

cd /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gi/
sudo cp _gi.cpython-3[01]m*.so _gi.cpython-313m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so  # Adjust '3[01]' to your default (3.10 or 3.11)

Then reinstall python3-gi as above.

Prevention

Don’t manually override /usr/bin/python3—use virtualenvs (python3 -m venv myenv) for projects needing 3.13.
If you installed 3.13 via deadsnakes PPA, remove it and stick to distro Python.

If this doesn’t fix it, run ls -l /usr/bin/python* and dpkg -l | grep python3 | grep -E 'gi|default' and share the output.

gnome-terminal will not start after trying to install newer version of Python 3
ImportError: cannot import name ‘_gi’ from partially initialized module ‘gi’
Why won’t terminal open?

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