[CRITICAL] Master branch broken for Android/Windows due to MaterialShapes (Cairo) dependency

[messenger3]

The recent integration of MaterialShapes has introduced a hidden, non-Pythonic dependency chain that breaks KivyMD’s cross-platform compatibility—specifically for Android and Windows.

MaterialShapes now depends on pycairo, which requires the Cairo graphics library (a binary C-extension) to be installed on the host system.

The Issue for KivyMD

1. Android (Blocking): There is no python-for-android (p4a) recipe for cairo. Consequently, buildozer fails to package the APK because it cannot cross-compile the Cairo C-headers for ARM. This makes the current Master branch unusable for mobile development.
2. Windows/macOS: Standard pip install fails unless the user manually installs the Cairo binary and configures system environment variables. This violates KivyMD's "well-behaved package" standard.
3. Architectural Regression: KivyMD has traditionally avoided system-level dependencies that aren't bundled in wheels or handled by p4a recipes. This change introduces a "Linux-only" constraint to the core library.

Evidence

When building for Android or installing on a clean Windows environment, the process crashes during the pycairo setup:
Error: pkg-config --exists 'cairo >= 1.15.10' returned non-zero exit status 1

Suggested Action

• Revert/Modify MaterialShapes: Request that the MaterialShapes maintainer remove the Cairo dependency in favor of a Pure-Python solution (like Pillow) or Kivy’s native Canvas instructions.
• Dependency Shielding: If MaterialShapes cannot be fixed, it should be treated as an optional extra or replaced to ensure the KivyMD core remains installable via pip on all platforms.

[T-Dynamos]

Android (Blocking): There is no python-for-android (p4a) recipe for cairo. Consequently, buildozer fails to package the APK because it cannot cross-compile the Cairo C-headers for ARM. This makes the current Master branch unusable for mobile development.

False.

See:

• https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android/tree/develop/pythonforandroid/recipes/libcairo
• https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android/tree/develop/pythonforandroid/recipes/pycairo

(you need to use develop p4a branch)

Windows/macOS: Standard pip install fails unless the user manually installs the Cairo binary and configures system environment variables. This violates KivyMD's "well-behaved package" standard.

False for windows.

See: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/d7/54/123f6239685f5f3f2edc123f1e38d2eefacebee18cf3c532d2f4bd51d0ef/

pycairo has prebuilt windows wheel.

it should be treated as an optional

I agree until MaterialShapes becomes pure python.

[messenger3]

@T-Dynamos Thank you for the reply. I am going to use the develop p4a branch.