syntax error when importing django-sphinxsearch - django

Question

I am trying to run the standard django migration commands, ex., python3 manage.py makemigrations, and continuously get a syntax error on module import with sphinxsearch.
I know it's deprecated, but unfortunately I am working on small additions to the site and cannot move to elasticsearch yet.
Python version : 3.5.3
System : Debian (AWS server)
Sphinx version: 3.5.4
sphinxsearch version: 0.1
Error message:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "manage.py", line 13, in <module>
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 371, in execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 347, in execute
django.setup()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 89, in populate
app_config = AppConfig.create(entry)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 90, in create
module = import_module(entry)
File "/usr/lib/python3.5/importlib/__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 986, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 969, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 958, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 673, in _load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 669, in exec_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 775, in get_code
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 735, in source_to_code
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 222, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sphinxsearch/__init__.py", line 75
SPH_ATTR_MULTI = 0X40000000L
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
I've tried updating the system and have changed sphinx version, but I received the same error, just referencing a different file. Please note that the ini.py file is showing as blank when I navigate to it manually.

Answer 1

The error is caused by the trailing L in SPH_ATTR_MULTI = 0X40000000L and this is a sign that this code is meant to work with python 2, not python 3. In python 2 the trailing L is a indication that the value is type long instead integer and it is used for large numbers, but in python 3 integer and long were unified, so the trailing L is giving an SyntaxError.
Use python 2.7 if sphinx is absolutely necessary.

Answer 2

I was able to remove the sphinxsearch module as it wasn't necessary, install the sphinx 4.0 release.
That gave me a context error with "str = f'{item}'" format, so I changed it to "str = "% ..." % (item)" format manually within base.py ( in /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sphinxsearch/base.py) and it worked properly with python 3.5
It seems its just that a weird mid-tier version is necessary.