| ============ |
| MacOSX Notes |
| ============ |
| |
| This document provides a quick overview of some Mac OS X specific features in |
| the Python distribution. |
| |
| |
| Building and using a universal binary of Python on Mac OS X |
| =========================================================== |
| |
| 1. What is a universal binary |
| ----------------------------- |
| |
| A universal binary build of Python contains object code for both PPC and i386 |
| and can therefore run at native speed on both classic powerpc based macs and |
| the newer intel based macs. |
| |
| 2. How do I build a universal binary |
| ------------------------------------ |
| |
| You can enable universal binaries by specifying the "--enable-universalsdk" |
| flag to configure:: |
| |
| $ ./configure --enable-universalsdk |
| $ make |
| $ make install |
| |
| This flag can be used a framework build of python, but also with a classic |
| unix build. Either way you will have to build python on Mac OS X 10.4 (or later) |
| with Xcode 2.1 (or later). You also have to install the 10.4u SDK when |
| installing Xcode. |
| |
| |
| Building and using a framework-based Python on Mac OS X. |
| ======================================================== |
| |
| |
| 1. Why would I want a framework Python instead of a normal static Python? |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| The main reason is because you want to create GUI programs in Python. With the |
| exception of X11/XDarwin-based GUI toolkits all GUI programs need to be run |
| from a fullblown MacOSX application (a ".app" bundle). |
| |
| While it is technically possible to create a .app without using frameworks you |
| will have to do the work yourself if you really want this. |
| |
| A second reason for using frameworks is that they put Python-related items in |
| only two places: "/Library/Framework/Python.framework" and |
| "/Applications/MacPython 2.6". This simplifies matters for users installing |
| Python from a binary distribution if they want to get rid of it again. Moreover, |
| due to the way frameworks work a user without admin privileges can install a |
| binary distribution in his or her home directory without recompilation. |
| |
| 2. How does a framework Python differ from a normal static Python? |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| |
| In everyday use there is no difference, except that things are stored in |
| a different place. If you look in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework |
| you will see lots of relative symlinks, see the Apple documentation for |
| details. If you are used to a normal unix Python file layout go down to |
| Versions/Current and you will see the familiar bin and lib directories. |
| |
| 3. Do I need extra packages? |
| ---------------------------- |
| |
| Yes, probably. If you want Tkinter support you need to get the OSX AquaTk |
| distribution, this is installed by default on Mac OS X 10.4 or later. If |
| you want wxPython you need to get that. If you want Cocoa you need to get |
| PyObjC. |
| |
| 4. How do I build a framework Python? |
| ------------------------------------- |
| |
| This directory contains a Makefile that will create a couple of python-related |
| applications (fullblown OSX .app applications, that is) in |
| "/Applications/MacPython 2.6", and a hidden helper application Python.app |
| inside the Python.framework, and unix tools "python" and "pythonw" into |
| /usr/local/bin. In addition it has a target "installmacsubtree" that installs |
| the relevant portions of the Mac subtree into the Python.framework. |
| |
| It is normally invoked indirectly through the main Makefile, as the last step |
| in the sequence |
| |
| 1. ./configure --enable-framework |
| |
| 2. make |
| |
| 3. make install |
| |
| This sequence will put the framework in /Library/Framework/Python.framework, |
| the applications in "/Applications/MacPython 2.6" and the unix tools in |
| /usr/local/bin. |
| |
| Installing in another place, for instance $HOME/Library/Frameworks if you have |
| no admin privileges on your machine, has only been tested very lightly. This |
| can be done by configuring with --enable-framework=$HOME/Library/Frameworks. |
| The other two directories, "/Applications/MacPython-2.6" and /usr/local/bin, |
| will then also be deposited in $HOME. This is sub-optimal for the unix tools, |
| which you would want in $HOME/bin, but there is no easy way to fix this right |
| now. |
| |
| If you want to install some part, but not all, read the main Makefile. The |
| frameworkinstall is composed of a couple of sub-targets that install the |
| framework itself, the Mac subtree, the applications and the unix tools. |
| |
| There is an extra target frameworkinstallextras that is not part of the |
| normal frameworkinstall which installs the Demo and Tools directories |
| into "/Applications/MacPython 2.6", this is useful for binary distributions. |
| |
| What do all these programs do? |
| =============================== |
| |
| "IDLE.app" is an integrated development environment for Python: editor, |
| debugger, etc. |
| |
| "PythonLauncher.app" is a helper application that will handle things when you |
| double-click a .py, .pyc or .pyw file. For the first two it creates a Terminal |
| window and runs the scripts with the normal command-line Python. For the |
| latter it runs the script in the Python.app interpreter so the script can do |
| GUI-things. Keep the "alt" key depressed while dragging or double-clicking a |
| script to set runtime options. These options can be set once and for all |
| through PythonLauncher's preferences dialog. |
| |
| The commandline scripts /usr/local/bin/python and pythonw can be used to run |
| non-GUI and GUI python scripts from the command line, respectively. |
| |
| How do I create a binary distribution? |
| ====================================== |
| |
| Go to the directory "Mac/OSX/BuildScript". There you'll find a script |
| "build-installer.py" that does all the work. This will download and build |
| a number of 3th-party libaries, configures and builds a framework Python, |
| installs it, creates the installer pacakge files and then packs this in a |
| DMG image. |
| |
| The script will build a universal binary, you'll therefore have to run this |
| script on Mac OS X 10.4 or later and with Xcode 2.1 or later installed. |
| |
| All of this is normally done completely isolated in /tmp/_py, so it does not |
| use your normal build directory nor does it install into /. |
| |
| Because of the way the script locates the files it needs you have to run it |
| from within the BuildScript directory. The script accepts a number of |
| command-line arguments, run it with --help for more information. |
| |
| Odds and ends |
| ============= |
| |
| Something to take note of is that the ".rsrc" files in the distribution are |
| not actually resource files, they're AppleSingle encoded resource files. The |
| macresource module and the Mac/OSX/Makefile cater for this, and create |
| ".rsrc.df.rsrc" files on the fly that are normal datafork-based resource |
| files. |
| |
| Jack Jansen, Jack.Jansen@cwi.nl, 15-Jul-2004. |
| Ronald Oussoren, RonaldOussoren@mac.com, 26-May-2006 |