| 1 | ============
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| 2 | MacOSX Notes
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| 3 | ============
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| 4 |
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| 5 | This document provides a quick overview of some Mac OS X specific features in
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| 6 | the Python distribution.
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| 7 |
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| 8 |
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| 9 | Building and using a universal binary of Python on Mac OS X
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| 10 | ===========================================================
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| 11 |
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| 12 | 1. What is a universal binary
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| 13 | -----------------------------
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| 14 |
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| 15 | A universal binary build of Python contains object code for both PPC and i386
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| 16 | and can therefore run at native speed on both classic powerpc based macs and
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| 17 | the newer intel based macs.
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| 18 |
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| 19 | 2. How do I build a universal binary
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| 20 | ------------------------------------
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| 21 |
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| 22 | You can enable universal binaries by specifying the "--enable-universalsdk"
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| 23 | flag to configure::
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| 24 |
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| 25 | $ ./configure --enable-universalsdk
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| 26 | $ make
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| 27 | $ make install
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| 28 |
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| 29 | This flag can be used a framework build of python, but also with a classic
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| 30 | unix build. Either way you will have to build python on Mac OS X 10.4 (or later)
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| 31 | with Xcode 2.1 (or later). You also have to install the 10.4u SDK when
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| 32 | installing Xcode.
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| 33 |
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| 34 |
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| 35 | Building and using a framework-based Python on Mac OS X.
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| 36 | ========================================================
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| 37 |
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| 38 |
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| 39 | 1. Why would I want a framework Python instead of a normal static Python?
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| 40 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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| 41 |
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| 42 | The main reason is because you want to create GUI programs in Python. With the
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| 43 | exception of X11/XDarwin-based GUI toolkits all GUI programs need to be run
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| 44 | from a fullblown MacOSX application (a ".app" bundle).
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| 45 |
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| 46 | While it is technically possible to create a .app without using frameworks you
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| 47 | will have to do the work yourself if you really want this.
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| 48 |
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| 49 | A second reason for using frameworks is that they put Python-related items in
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| 50 | only two places: "/Library/Framework/Python.framework" and
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| 51 | "/Applications/MacPython 2.5". This simplifies matters for users installing
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| 52 | Python from a binary distribution if they want to get rid of it again. Moreover,
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| 53 | due to the way frameworks work a user without admin privileges can install a
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| 54 | binary distribution in his or her home directory without recompilation.
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| 55 |
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| 56 | 2. How does a framework Python differ from a normal static Python?
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| 57 | ------------------------------------------------------------------
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| 58 |
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| 59 | In everyday use there is no difference, except that things are stored in
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| 60 | a different place. If you look in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework
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| 61 | you will see lots of relative symlinks, see the Apple documentation for
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| 62 | details. If you are used to a normal unix Python file layout go down to
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| 63 | Versions/Current and you will see the familiar bin and lib directories.
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| 64 |
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| 65 | 3. Do I need extra packages?
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| 66 | ----------------------------
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| 67 |
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| 68 | Yes, probably. If you want Tkinter support you need to get the OSX AquaTk
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| 69 | distribution, this is installed by default on Mac OS X 10.4 or later. If
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| 70 | you want wxPython you need to get that. If you want Cocoa you need to get
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| 71 | PyObjC.
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| 72 |
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| 73 | 4. How do I build a framework Python?
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| 74 | -------------------------------------
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| 75 |
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| 76 | This directory contains a Makefile that will create a couple of python-related
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| 77 | applications (fullblown OSX .app applications, that is) in
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| 78 | "/Applications/MacPython 2.5", and a hidden helper application Python.app
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| 79 | inside the Python.framework, and unix tools "python" and "pythonw" into
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| 80 | /usr/local/bin. In addition it has a target "installmacsubtree" that installs
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| 81 | the relevant portions of the Mac subtree into the Python.framework.
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| 82 |
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| 83 | It is normally invoked indirectly through the main Makefile, as the last step
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| 84 | in the sequence
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| 85 |
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| 86 | 1. ./configure --enable-framework
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| 87 |
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| 88 | 2. make
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| 89 |
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| 90 | 3. make install
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| 91 |
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| 92 | This sequence will put the framework in /Library/Framework/Python.framework,
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| 93 | the applications in "/Applications/MacPython 2.5" and the unix tools in
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| 94 | /usr/local/bin.
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| 95 |
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| 96 | Installing in another place, for instance $HOME/Library/Frameworks if you have
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| 97 | no admin privileges on your machine, has only been tested very lightly. This
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| 98 | can be done by configuring with --enable-framework=$HOME/Library/Frameworks.
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| 99 | The other two directories, "/Applications/MacPython 2.5" and /usr/local/bin,
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| 100 | will then also be deposited in $HOME. This is sub-optimal for the unix tools,
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| 101 | which you would want in $HOME/bin, but there is no easy way to fix this right
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| 102 | now.
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| 103 |
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| 104 | If you want to install some part, but not all, read the main Makefile. The
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| 105 | frameworkinstall is composed of a couple of sub-targets that install the
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| 106 | framework itself, the Mac subtree, the applications and the unix tools.
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| 107 |
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| 108 | There is an extra target frameworkinstallextras that is not part of the
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| 109 | normal frameworkinstall which installs the Demo and Tools directories
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| 110 | into "/Applications/MacPython 2.5", this is useful for binary distributions.
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| 111 |
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| 112 | What do all these programs do?
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| 113 | ===============================
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| 114 |
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| 115 | "IDLE.app" is an integrated development environment for Python: editor,
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| 116 | debugger, etc.
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| 117 |
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| 118 | "PythonLauncher.app" is a helper application that will handle things when you
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| 119 | double-click a .py, .pyc or .pyw file. For the first two it creates a Terminal
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| 120 | window and runs the scripts with the normal command-line Python. For the
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| 121 | latter it runs the script in the Python.app interpreter so the script can do
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| 122 | GUI-things. Keep the "alt" key depressed while dragging or double-clicking a
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| 123 | script to set runtime options. These options can be set once and for all
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| 124 | through PythonLauncher's preferences dialog.
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| 125 |
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| 126 | "BuildApplet.app" creates an applet from a Python script. Drop the script on it
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| 127 | and out comes a full-featured MacOS application. There is much more to this,
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| 128 | to be supplied later. Some useful (but outdated) info can be found in
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| 129 | Mac/Demo.
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| 130 |
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| 131 | The commandline scripts /usr/local/bin/python and pythonw can be used to run
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| 132 | non-GUI and GUI python scripts from the command line, respectively.
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| 133 |
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| 134 | How do I create a binary distribution?
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| 135 | ======================================
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| 136 |
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| 137 | Go to the directory "Mac/OSX/BuildScript". There you'll find a script
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| 138 | "build-installer.py" that does all the work. This will download and build
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| 139 | a number of 3th-party libaries, configures and builds a framework Python,
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| 140 | installs it, creates the installer pacakge files and then packs this in a
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| 141 | DMG image.
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| 142 |
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| 143 | The script will build a universal binary, you'll therefore have to run this
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| 144 | script on Mac OS X 10.4 or later and with Xcode 2.1 or later installed.
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| 145 |
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| 146 | All of this is normally done completely isolated in /tmp/_py, so it does not
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| 147 | use your normal build directory nor does it install into /.
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| 148 |
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| 149 | Because of the way the script locates the files it needs you have to run it
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| 150 | from within the BuildScript directory. The script accepts a number of
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| 151 | command-line arguments, run it with --help for more information.
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| 152 |
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| 153 | Odds and ends
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| 154 | =============
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| 155 |
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| 156 | Something to take note of is that the ".rsrc" files in the distribution are
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| 157 | not actually resource files, they're AppleSingle encoded resource files. The
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| 158 | macresource module and the Mac/OSX/Makefile cater for this, and create
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| 159 | ".rsrc.df.rsrc" files on the fly that are normal datafork-based resource
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| 160 | files.
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| 161 |
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| 162 | Jack Jansen, Jack.Jansen@cwi.nl, 15-Jul-2004.
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| 163 | Ronald Oussoren, RonaldOussoren@mac.com, 26-May-2006
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