Dear Maintainer,

Apostrophe fails to start on a system with Python 3.14 as the default
python3. The window never appears.

What I did:

  $ apostrophe

What happened:

Two tracebacks are printed. The first one:

  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apostrophe/text_view.py", line 139, in __init__
    self.markup = MarkupHandler(self)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apostrophe/text_view_markup_handler.py", line 142, in __init__
    Process(target=self.parse, args=(child_conn,), daemon=True).start()
  [...]
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/multiprocessing/popen_forkserver.py", line 47, in _launch
    reduction.dump(process_obj, buf)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/multiprocessing/reduction.py", line 60, in dump
    ForkingPickler(file, protocol).dump(obj)
  TypeError: cannot pickle 'ApostropheTextView' object
  when serializing dict item 'textview'
  when serializing apostrophe.text_view_markup_handler.MarkupHandler state
  [...]

Followed by a secondary failure caused by the first:

  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apostrophe/application.py", line 261, in _set_color_scheme
    window.textview.markup.on_style_updated()
  AttributeError: 'ApostropheTextView' object has no attribute 'markup'

What I expected:

The editor window to open normally.

Cause:

Python 3.14 changed the default multiprocessing start method on POSIX
platforms from 'fork' to 'forkserver':
https://docs.python.org/3/library/multiprocessing.html#contexts-and-start-methods

Upstream bug and patch:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/apostrophe/-/issues/669

Alpine has already applied that patch:
https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/merge_requests/103093

Workaround:

Forcing the 'fork' start method before Apostrophe creates its processes
makes the application start normally.

Hello,

Bug #1144487 in apostrophe reported by you has been fixed in the
Git repository and is awaiting an upload. You can see the commit
message below and you can check the diff of the fix at:

https://salsa.debian.org/gnome-team/apostrophe/-/commit/389088196b49f53124bb924f7bdbd9266c5e1d2f

(this message was generated automatically)
-- 
Greetings

https://bugs.debian.org/1144487

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
apostrophe, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1144487@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Matthias Geiger <werdahias@debian.org> (supplier of updated apostrophe package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:29:16 +0200
Source: apostrophe
Architecture: source
Version: 3.4-3
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Matthias Geiger <werdahias@debian.org>
Closes: 1144487
Changes:
 apostrophe (3.4-3) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Add patch to fix compatibility with python 3.14 (Closes: #1144487)
   * d/control: Bump S-V to 4.7.4; no changes needed
Checksums-Sha1:
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 3b79ab0dd7a5ebfaeca71856cecb07e4e46bcb9b 10320 apostrophe_3.4-3.debian.tar.xz
 4ee5a3033f1d63ee8fabb0410eac7760087170cd 15083 apostrophe_3.4-3_amd64.buildinfo
Checksums-Sha256:
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 3be6329b7542d334a1bac677bb8733e79132cd4613be46b222be14bcf4fea05a 10320 apostrophe_3.4-3.debian.tar.xz
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Files:
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 e83c71a5de96bebd42bc334d1a649678 15083 gnome optional apostrophe_3.4-3_amd64.buildinfo
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