"could not find _PyGObject_API object" can no longer mix gi.repository use with deprecated gtk modules

[David Leonard]

Upgraded to Ubuntu 14.10 and skype-wrapper (0ubuntu6.5.2~trusty0) fails with:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/skype-wrapper/skype-wrapper.py", line 45, in <module>
    import helpers
  File "/usr/share/skype-wrapper/helpers.py", line 34, in <module>
    import pynotify
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gtk-2.0/pynotify/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from _pynotify import *
ImportError: could not import gobject (could not find _PyGObject_API object)

This seems to be because gi.repository is now no longer compatible with pynotify and friends. I was able to make some progress in helpers.py:

    -import pynotify
    -import wnck
    +from gi.repository import Notify as pynotify
    +from gi.repository import Wnck as wnck

But, although that fixed the above error, much work remains to be done in indicator-applet-skype.py: looks like it has to be rewritten to use the AppIndicator3 interface instead of the indicate module.

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.10
Release: 14.10
Codename: utopic

[zEvilz (zevilz13)]

Same error on Debian 8