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1 2.. _using-on-mac: 3 4*************************** 5Using Python on a Macintosh 6*************************** 7 8:Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com> 9 10 11Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python on 12any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as 13the IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out. 14 15The Mac-specific modules are documented in :ref:`mac-specific-services`. 16 17Python on Mac OS 9 or earlier can be quite different from Python on Unix or 18Windows, but is beyond the scope of this manual, as that platform is no longer 19supported, starting with Python 2.4. See http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython for 20installers for the latest 2.3 release for Mac OS 9 and related documentation. 21 22 23.. _getting-osx: 24 25Getting and Installing MacPython 26================================ 27 28Mac OS X 10.5 comes with Python 2.5.1 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, you 29are invited to install the most recent version of Python from the Python website 30(http://www.python.org). A current "universal binary" build of Python, which 31runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available there. 32 33What you get after installing is a number of things: 34 35* A :file:`MacPython 2.5` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here 36 you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official 37 Python distributions; PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python 38 scripts from the Finder; and the "Build Applet" tool, which allows you to 39 package Python scripts as standalone applications on your system. 40 41* A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the 42 Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell 43 path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A 44 symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/. 45 46The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in 47:file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`, 48respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are 49Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that 50if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have 51two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will 52be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do. 53 54IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you 55are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction 56in that document. 57 58If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the 59section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell. 60 61 62How to run a Python script 63-------------------------- 64 65Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLE 66integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu 67when the IDE is running. 68 69If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from 70the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with a 71number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and 72:program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor, 73:program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see 74http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml) are good choices, as is 75:program:`TextMate` (see http://macromates.com/). Other editors include 76:program:`Gvim` (http://macvim.org) and :program:`Aquamacs` 77(http://aquamacs.org). 78 79To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that 80:file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path. 81 82To run your script from the Finder you have two options: 83 84* Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher` 85 86* Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your 87 script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it. 88 :program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is 89 launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use 90 its Preferences menu to change things globally. 91 92 93.. _osx-gui-scripts: 94 95Running scripts with a GUI 96-------------------------- 97 98With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to be 99aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words, 100anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw` 101instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts. 102 103With Python 2.5, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`. 104 105 106Configuration 107------------- 108 109Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such as 110:envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the 111Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or 112:file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file :file:`~ 113/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for details. 114 115For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section 116:ref:`mac-package-manager`. 117 118 119.. _ide: 120 121The IDE 122======= 123 124MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good 125introduction to using IDLE can be found at http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/ 126dyoo/python/idle_intro/index.html. 127 128 129.. _mac-package-manager: 130 131Installing Additional Python Packages 132===================================== 133 134There are several methods to install additional Python packages: 135 136* http://pythonmac.org/packages/ contains selected compiled packages for Python 137 2.5, 2.4, and 2.3. 138 139* Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python 140 setup.py install``). 141 142* Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension. 143 144 145GUI Programming on the Mac 146========================== 147 148There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python. 149 150*PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is 151the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is 152available from http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net. 153 154The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`Tkinter`, based on the cross-platform 155Tk toolkit (http://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS 156X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from 157http://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source. 158 159*wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on 160Mac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from http://www.wxpython.org. 161 162*PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on Mac 163OS X. More information can be found at 164http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/intro. 165 166 167Distributing Python Applications on the Mac 168=========================================== 169 170The "Build Applet" tool that is placed in the MacPython 2.5 folder is fine for 171packaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Mac 172application. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Python 173applications to other users. 174 175The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is 176:program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found 177at http://undefined.org/python/#py2app. 178 179 180Application Scripting 181===================== 182 183Python can also be used to script other Mac applications via Apple's Open 184Scripting Architecture (OSA); see http://appscript.sourceforge.net. Appscript is 185a high-level, user-friendly Apple event bridge that allows you to control 186scriptable Mac OS X applications using ordinary Python scripts. Appscript makes 187Python a serious alternative to Apple's own *AppleScript* language for 188automating your Mac. A related package, *PyOSA*, is an OSA language component 189for the Python scripting language, allowing Python code to be executed by any 190OSA-enabled application (Script Editor, Mail, iTunes, etc.). PyOSA makes Python 191a full peer to AppleScript. 192 193 194Other Resources 195=============== 196 197The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and 198developers on the Mac: 199 200http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/ 201 202Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki: 203 204http://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython 205