Jack Jansen | 83cab72 | 1997-08-26 13:25:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | How to install Python 1.5a3 on your Macintosh |
| 2 | ------------------------------------------- |
| 3 | |
| 4 | If this is your first encounter with Python: you definitely need the |
| 5 | common user documentation (common to all platforms). You can find this |
| 6 | (in various forms) on www.python.org and ftp.python.org. Through |
| 7 | there, or via http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython.html you can also find |
| 8 | the most recent MacPython distribution. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Mac-specific documentation is included in this distribution in folder |
| 11 | Mac:Demo. The documentation is sparse, but it will have to serve for |
| 12 | now. The documentation is in HTML format, start with index.html. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | What to install |
| 15 | --------------- |
| 16 | |
| 17 | There are three flavors of Python: PowerPC, cfm68k and Classic 68k (the |
| 18 | FAT flavor is just a combination of the first two, which is handy if you |
| 19 | want to install Python on a fileserver or so). 68K-mac owners should |
| 20 | definitely use the cfm68k version if possible, since it enables the use |
| 21 | of applets and dynamically loaded modules and usually has a smaller |
| 22 | memory footprint. It does however need the CFM68K Runtime Enabler which |
| 23 | is available from Apple (available for free from |
| 24 | <http://support.info.apple.com/ftp/swhome.html>, included since MacOS |
| 25 | 7.6.1). If your machine is pre-68020 you cannot use cfm68k and you can |
| 26 | install the classic 68k Python. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | If you have a pre-system 7 macintosh: sorry, this release will not work |
| 29 | on your system. Too many sys7 features are used to make a sys6 python |
| 30 | easy to create. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | If you don't have enough memory: the sizes choosen are somewhat |
| 33 | arbitrary. Try lowering the application sizes in the finder "get info" |
| 34 | window, and seeing whether the resulting python is still usable. Some |
| 35 | modules (Tkinter comes to mind) need a lot of memory, so it may also be |
| 36 | necessary to increase the application size. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | A final note to CFM68K (and possibly PPC) users: the Code Fragment |
| 39 | Manager can (incorrectly) produce "library not found" and other strange |
| 40 | error messages when it really means that there is not enough room in the |
| 41 | system heap. Decreasing (yes, *de*creasing) the size of the interpreter |
| 42 | and/or enabling virtual memory may solve these problems. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | After installing |
| 45 | ---------------- |
| 46 | |
| 47 | It is probably a good idea to run "autotest.py" from :Lib:test at this |
| 48 | point, this should not give any errors. It will, however, print some |
| 49 | messages about optional features not supported. Running testall.py is |
| 50 | done by double-clicking it or dropping it onto the interpreter. |
| 51 | |
| 52 | NOTE: as of 1.5a3 the tests test_time, test_strftime and test_rotor will |
| 53 | fail. This is due to a problem with the tests. test_socket may also fail |
| 54 | if you have no internet connection. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | Next, try "compileall.py" from :Lib to create all .pyc files (but this |
| 57 | isn't really important). |
| 58 | |
| 59 | PPC and CFM68K users have a couple of applets in the main folder they |
| 60 | may want to try, (68K users can use the corresponding scripts from the |
| 61 | "scripts" folder): |
| 62 | |
| 63 | - EditPythonPrefs allows you to edit the preferences file, to change the |
| 64 | python home folder or modify the initial sys.path setting. The default |
| 65 | settings are somewhat arbitrary, you can remove tkinter if you don't use |
| 66 | it and possibly add Extensions:img:Lib. - mkapplet creates a python |
| 67 | applet, a tiny application written in python. Drop a python source on it |
| 68 | and out comes the application. More information can be found in the |
| 69 | "Mac:Demo" folder. |
| 70 | |
| 71 | PPC and CFM68K users will see one more file in the python folder: |
| 72 | PythonApplet. This is the template for building applets, leave it alone. |
| 73 | The applet is "fat", containing both PPC and CFM68K code. Hence, applets |
| 74 | built with it can be transported to machines with the other |
| 75 | architecture. |
| 76 | |
| 77 | Things to see |
| 78 | ------------- |
| 79 | |
| 80 | There are some readme files in the "Read me files" folder that may |
| 81 | contain useful information. There is also a first stab at documentation |
| 82 | (plus examples) in the Mac:Demo folder. The toplevel Demo folder has |
| 83 | machine-independent demos. See the file Readme-mac for mac-specific |
| 84 | notes. The Mac:Lib:test folder also has some programs that show simple |
| 85 | capabilities of various modules. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | The "scripts" folder has some sample scripts. Some are useful, some are |
| 88 | just interesting to look at to see how various things work. The MkDistr, |
| 89 | mkapplet and fullbuild scripts (plus the ones mentioned above) may help |
| 90 | you to understand how to use AppleEvents and various other toolboxes |
| 91 | from python. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | The 'img' group of modules, which handles I/O of many different image |
| 94 | formats (not pict yet, sigh:-) is included, but without documentation. |
| 95 | You can find docs at ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/jack/python/img (or somewhere |
| 96 | around there). |
| 97 | |
| 98 | Upgrading from older Python releases |
| 99 | ------------------------------------ |
| 100 | |
| 101 | Since release 1.4 Python releases are independent of each other, with |
| 102 | separate Preferences files, shared library names, etc. The good news is |
| 103 | that this means you can keep your older version around if you are unsure |
| 104 | whether to upgrade. The bad news is that your old preference settings |
| 105 | are lost and you have to set them again. |
| 106 | |
| 107 | After you are satisfied that 1.5a3 works as expected you can trash |
| 108 | anything in the system folder that has "python" in the name and not |
| 109 | "1.5a3". |
| 110 | |
| 111 | The installer |
| 112 | ------------- |
| 113 | |
| 114 | The installer for this product was created using Installer VISE Lite |
| 115 | from MindVision Software. For more information on Installer VISE Lite, |
| 116 | |
| 117 | contact: |
| 118 | MindVision Software |
| 119 | 7201 North 7th Street |
| 120 | Lincoln, NE 68521-8913 |
| 121 | Voice: 402-477-3269 |
| 122 | Fax: 402-477-1395 |
| 123 | Internet: mindvision@mindvision.com |
| 124 | http://www.mindvision.com |
| 125 | |
| 126 | |
| 127 | Feedback |
| 128 | -------- |
| 129 | |
| 130 | Send bug reports, suggestions, contributions and fanmail to |
| 131 | <jack@cwi.nl>. Be warned however that I'm pretty busy, so I may not |
| 132 | always respond immedeately. |
| 133 | |
| 134 | A better way to discuss MacPython is to join the |
| 135 | <pythonmac-sig@python.org> mailing list, which is explicitly meant for |
| 136 | this purpose. |
| 137 | |
| 138 | Alternatively, you can try sending to comp.lang.python or |
| 139 | python-list@cwi.nl, but since I read the newsgroup, not the mailinglist, |
| 140 | I may miss it there (but other people may know quite a bit more than me |
| 141 | anyway:-). |
| 142 | |
| 143 | Jack Jansen |
| 144 | Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica |
| 145 | Kruislaan 413 |
| 146 | 1098 SJ Amsterdam |
| 147 | the Netherlands |
| 148 | |
| 149 | <jack@cwi.nl>, http://www.cwi.nl/~jack |