How to install Python 2.1a2 on your Macintosh

---------------------------------------------

Note that this is really an alpha: it is only lightly tested and contains a lot

of new code. Moreover, this release is Carbon only, so it will run on MacOS 8.6

or later and MacOS X. The next alpha will again run in "classic MacOS" (8.0 or

later).

I'm hoping for a fairly quick alpha cycle, with about 3 distributions in quick

succession, so please give feedback (to [email protected]) as soon as

possible. You should definitely include the full version number of you MacOS

and the full version string of your MacPython.

Whether PIL, Tk and Numeric work in this release is a complete guess.

You should definitely read the Relnotes file too.

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If this is your first encounter with Python: you definitely need the

common user documentation (common to all platforms). You can find this

(in various forms) on www.pythonlabs.com, www.python.org and

ftp.python.org. Through there, or via

http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython.html you can also find the most recent

MacPython distribution.

Mac-specific documentation is included in this distribution in folder

Mac:Demo. The documentation is sparse, but it will have to serve for

now. The documentation is in HTML format, start with index.html.

Caveats

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This is a final candidate version, so use with caution, and please report

problems as soon as possible, to [email protected].

Aside from the general new Python 2.1 features compared to 2.0 the main

feature of this release is Carbon support.

This installer installs MacPython for Carbon only. If you have a machine

running 8.5 or earlier you should wait for the next alfa and sitck with 2.0.

If you want

68k support you will have to stay with 1.5.2.

This version of Python expects a recent version of Appearance, so it may

be that users with pre MacOS 8.5 systems have trouble running it. If

that is the case try getting CarbonLib from Apple, I am told this

includes Appearance and NavServices. You may also have to disable the

"Use navservices" preference for best results.

What to install

---------------

This installer is PPC only: too many new MacOS features are not

available on 68K, and doing workarounds, even just #ifdeffing in the

code, is too much work for me right now. If someone wants to revive

68K-MacPython: please do so.

The optional parts in this distribution are

- TK+PIL: Tkinter and support modules, plus Imaging, the Python image manipulation

package (allows you to read, write and display images and do lots of operations on them).

- img: another imaging package. Has more file format support and is faster

than imaging, but has only limited operations on images. There is a bridge

between the packages.

- Numeric: the LLNL Numeric Python extension. All sorts of nifty operations

on matrices and such. This is the most recent version from the sourceforge archive.

- Developers kit: all header files and some tools and sample projects to get you started on

writing Python extensions if you have CodeWarrior.

All these except the DevKit are installed with Easy Install.

After the installer finishes it automatically launches the

ConfigurePython applet, to finish configuration of your Python.

Moving your Python installation after installing is generally not a good idea.

If you have to do this anyway you should remove your preference file, run

ConfigurePython and remove all .pyc files. (there's a script zappyc.py that does

the latter).

If you don't have enough memory: the sizes choosen are somewhat

arbitrary, and they are as high as they are so that test.autotest runs with fewer

problems. An average Python program can make do with much less memory.

Try lowering the application sizes in the finder "get info"

window, and seeing whether the resulting python is still usable.

After installing

----------------

It is probably a good idea to run the automatic tests. Start

Python and "import test.autotest".

Three tests will fail on MacOS9, all with MemoryErrors: test_gzip, test_sha,

test_longexp and test_zlib (on MacOSX nothing should fail).

If you increase the PythonInterpreter memory

partition size they will pass. It will, however, print some messages

about optional features not supported. You should not worry about these,

they are modules that are supported by Python on other platforms. Also,

if you didn't run compileall before autotesting you may run out of

memory the first time you run the tests. test_socket may also fail if

you have no internet connection. Please also read the Relnotes file for

other minor problems with this distribution.

Using Python is most easily done from the IDE, which has a builtin editor,

debugger and other goodies. The alternative is to use PythonInterpreter,

which is the lowlevel interpreter with a console-window only (similar to Unix

Python).

If your program uses Tkinter you MUST run it under PythonInterpreter, Tkinter

and IDE are incompatible and your program will fail in strange ways.

Uninstalling

------------

Two items are installed in the system folder: the interpreter shared

libraries PythonCore and PythonCoreCarbon lives in the Extensions folder and the

"Python 2.1a2 Preferences" file in the Python subfolder in the

Preferences folder. All the rest of Python lives in the folder you

installed in.

Things to see

-------------

Start off at Mac:Demo:index.html. Read at least the first few sections.

There are also some interesting files in the "Relnotes" folder that may

contain useful information. There is also a first stab at documentation

(plus examples) in the Mac:Demo folder. The toplevel Demo folder has

machine-independent demos.

The Mac:Lib:test folder also has some programs that show simple

capabilities of various modules.

The ":Mac:scripts" folder has some sample scripts. Some are useful, some are

just interesting to look at to see how various things work. The MkDistr,

mkapplet and fullbuild scripts (plus the ones mentioned above) may help

you to understand how to use AppleEvents and various other toolboxes

from python.

Other mac-specific goodies can be found in :Mac:Tools, of which the IDE sources

and a CGI framework deserve special mention.

The 'img' group of modules, which handles I/O of many different image

formats is included, but without documentation. You can find docs at

ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/jack/python/img (or somewhere around there).

Finally there is a Mac:Contrib folder which contains some contributed

software.

Upgrading from older Python releases

------------------------------------

Python releases are independent of each other, with

separate Preferences files, shared library names, etc. The good news is

that this means you can keep your older version around if you are unsure

whether to upgrade. The bad news is that your old preference settings

are lost and you have to set them again.

After you are satisfied that 2.1 works as expected you can trash

anything in the system folder that has "python" in the name and not

"2.1".

The installer

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The installer for this product was created using Installer VISE

from MindVision Software. For more information on Installer VISE,

contact:

MindVision Software

7201 North 7th Street

Lincoln, NE 68521-8913

Voice: 402-477-3269

Fax: 402-477-1395

Internet: [email protected]

http://www.mindvision.com

Just van Rossum <[email protected]> created the initial version of the

installer (with Installer Vise Lite), and Jack worked from there.

Thanks!

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Thanks go to the whole Python community with Guido in the lead, of

course. Mac-specific thanks go to the pythonmac-sig, Just van Rossum,

Corran Webster, Tony Ingraldi, Erik van Blokland, Bill Bedford, Chris

Stern, Gordon Worley, Oliver Steele, M. Papillon, Steven Majewski, David

Goodger, Chris Barker, Luc Lefebvre, Tattoo Mabonzo K., Russell Finn,

Tom Bridgman and all the other people who provided feedback, code or both!

MacPython includes waste, a TextEdit replacement which is (c) 1998 Marco Piovanelli.

A special mention is deserved by Matthias Neeracher, who has written the brilliant

unix-compatible GUSI I/O library, without which MacPython would not have sockets

or select, and to Alexandre Parenteau, who has ported this library to Carbon.

Feedback

--------

Send bug reports, suggestions, contributions and fanmail to

<[email protected]>. However, a better way to discuss MacPython is to join the

<[email protected]> mailing list, which is explicitly meant for

this purpose.

Jack Jansen

Oratrix Development BV

Valeriusplein 30

Amsterdam

the Netherlands

<[email protected]>, http://www.cwi.nl/~jack