kazam fails with "PyGIWarning: Gtk was imported without specifying a version first..."

On Ubuntu 20.04, I had better luck with a GitHub fork. Here are the steps:

• (Optional) sudo ppa-purge ppa:sylvain-pineau/kazam
• sudo apt remove kazam
• sudo apt install python3-cairo python3-xlib python3-distutils-extra (dependencies)
• Download https://github.com/henrywoo/kazam-screen-recorder/archive/master.zip
• Unzip it
• cd to the unzipped folder
• sudo python3 setup.py install

By default, this installs in /usr/local/bin/kazam, which should already be on your PATH.

For me, this local kazam also appeared as a launcher with icons. However, these may be left over from the Ubuntu package or from the PPA above.

If you have a problem selecting the microphone, use this command post-install (using the appropriate python version):

sudo sed -i 's/time.clock/time.perf_counter/g' python3.8/dist-packages/kazam/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.py

Simply installing python3-xlib solved your particular Segmentation Fault issue with Kazam, but you may have noticed there are still several PyGI warnings about importing "without specifying a version first".

Since this question is google's #1 on such warnings (that's how I stumbled here), this is how to change the code to prevent such warnings, as described by the warnings themselves.

Instead of:

from gi.repository import Gtk, GObject, Gdk, Wnck, GdkX11, Gst, AppIndicator3

Which emits several warnings:

__main__:1: PyGIWarning: Gtk was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.
__main__:1: PyGIWarning: Wnck was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Wnck', '3.0') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.
__main__:1: PyGIWarning: Gst was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.
__main__:1: PyGIWarning: AppIndicator3 was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('AppIndicator3', '0.1') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.

Use this, according to official PyGOobject Documentation:

import gi
gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
gi.require_version('Wnck', '3.0')
gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
gi.require_version('AppIndicator3', '0.1')
from gi.repository import Gtk, GObject, Gdk, Wnck, GdkX11, Gst, AppIndicator3

Apparently not all gi's submodules require specifying a version.

Or alternatively you can require all versions in a single statement using the require_versions() function (note the plural), which takes a single dictionary of modules and their respective versions:

import gi
gi.require_versions({
    'Gtk':  '3.0',
    'Wnck': '3.0',
    'Gst':  '1.0',
    'AppIndicator3': '0.1',
})
from gi.repository import Gtk, GObject, Gdk, Wnck, GdkX11, Gst, AppIndicator3

This function is not listed in official docs, but it was added in PyGObject 3.21.0 released in 2016.

The problem with this segmentation fault is in Kazam hotkeys bindings. Maybe the system cannot give some keybingings to Kazam, thus we get an exception.

The rough solution is to remove Kazam’s global keybingings:

1. Open the file:
   /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kazam/frontend/indicator.py

2. Find these strings (about line 100 or so):

   Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>R", self.cb_hotkeys, "start-request")
   Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>F", self.cb_hotkeys, "stop-request")
   Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>P", self.cb_hotkeys, "pause-request")
   Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>W", self.cb_hotkeys, "show-request")
   Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>Q", self.cb_hotkeys, "quit-request")
   

3. Comment them out:

   #Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>R", self.cb_hotkeys, "start-request")
   #Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>F", self.cb_hotkeys, "stop-request")
   #Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>P", self.cb_hotkeys, "pause-request")
   #Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>W", self.cb_hotkeys, "show-request")
   #Keybinder.bind("<Super><Ctrl>Q", self.cb_hotkeys, "quit-request")
   

4. Save the file.

5. Run Kazam.

6. You’re awesome.

After that, you cannot use those hotkeys though, but at least Kazam will work.