Hi maintainers,
first of all, thank you for keeping libfreenect alive — many of us still rely on Kinect v1 hardware for research, robotics, depth sensing, and educational projects.

Summary

It appears that Python bindings for libfreenect are no longer compatible with Python 3.12+, and the package is currently unavailable on Ubuntu 24.04 (and recent Debian-based distros). This makes it difficult to use Kinect v1 devices in modern scientific or academic environments, where Python 3.12 is now the default.

Why This Matters

Kinect v1 hardware is still widely used for:

• low‑cost depth sensing in labs and classrooms
• motion tracking research
• robotics and SLAM experiments
• computer vision prototyping
• accessibility and HCI projects

Many institutions rely on Ubuntu LTS releases and the latest Python versions for reproducibility and security compliance. Losing compatibility effectively removes Kinect v1 from these workflows.
What I’m Requesting

Would it be possible to:

• Restore or update Python bindings to support Python 3.12+
• Even minimal maintenance (e.g., fixing build errors, updating deprecated APIs) would unblock many users.
• Re-enable or update Ubuntu packaging
  • A working build for Ubuntu 24.04 (or instructions for building from source with Python 3.12) would be extremely helpful.

Additional Context

Python 3.12 removed several deprecated C API functions, which may be causing the current build failures.

Many downstream projects (OpenCV pipelines, robotics stacks, etc.) depend on libfreenect’s Python module.

I’m happy to help test builds on Ubuntu 24.04 and provide logs or PRs if needed.

Questions for Maintainers

• Is Python 3.12+ support planned or feasible?
• Are there known blockers preventing packaging for modern Ubuntu releases?
• Would contributions or testing from the community be helpful?

Thanks again for your work on this project — Kinect v1 remains a valuable tool, and continued support would benefit a large number of researchers and hobbyists.