/Doc/using/mac.rst
http://unladen-swallow.googlecode.com/ · ReStructuredText · 205 lines · 139 code · 66 blank · 0 comment · 0 complexity · 4a81a510c0d66e0b260076d94c0f0d32 MD5 · raw file
- .. _using-on-mac:
- ***************************
- Using Python on a Macintosh
- ***************************
- :Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>
- Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python on
- any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as
- the IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.
- The Mac-specific modules are documented in :ref:`mac-specific-services`.
- Python on Mac OS 9 or earlier can be quite different from Python on Unix or
- Windows, but is beyond the scope of this manual, as that platform is no longer
- supported, starting with Python 2.4. See http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython for
- installers for the latest 2.3 release for Mac OS 9 and related documentation.
- .. _getting-osx:
- Getting and Installing MacPython
- ================================
- Mac OS X 10.5 comes with Python 2.5.1 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, you
- are invited to install the most recent version of Python from the Python website
- (http://www.python.org). A current "universal binary" build of Python, which
- runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available there.
- What you get after installing is a number of things:
- * A :file:`MacPython 2.5` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here
- you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official
- Python distributions; PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python
- scripts from the Finder; and the "Build Applet" tool, which allows you to
- package Python scripts as standalone applications on your system.
- * A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the
- Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell
- path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A
- symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/.
- The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in
- :file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`,
- respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are
- Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that
- if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have
- two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will
- be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.
- IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you
- are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction
- in that document.
- If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the
- section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.
- How to run a Python script
- --------------------------
- Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLE
- integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu
- when the IDE is running.
- If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from
- the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with a
- number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and
- :program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor,
- :program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see
- http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml) are good choices, as is
- :program:`TextMate` (see http://macromates.com/). Other editors include
- :program:`Gvim` (http://macvim.org) and :program:`Aquamacs`
- (http://aquamacs.org).
- To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that
- :file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path.
- To run your script from the Finder you have two options:
- * Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher`
- * Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your
- script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it.
- :program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is
- launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use
- its Preferences menu to change things globally.
- .. _osx-gui-scripts:
- Running scripts with a GUI
- --------------------------
- With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to be
- aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,
- anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw`
- instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts.
- With Python 2.5, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`.
- Configuration
- -------------
- Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such as
- :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the
- Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or
- :file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file :file:`~
- /.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for details.
- For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section
- :ref:`mac-package-manager`.
- .. _ide:
- The IDE
- =======
- MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good
- introduction to using IDLE can be found at http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/
- dyoo/python/idle_intro/index.html.
- .. _mac-package-manager:
- Installing Additional Python Packages
- =====================================
- There are several methods to install additional Python packages:
- * http://pythonmac.org/packages/ contains selected compiled packages for Python
- 2.5, 2.4, and 2.3.
- * Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python
- setup.py install``).
- * Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension.
- GUI Programming on the Mac
- ==========================
- There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python.
- *PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is
- the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is
- available from http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net.
- The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`Tkinter`, based on the cross-platform
- Tk toolkit (http://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS
- X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from
- http://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.
- *wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on
- Mac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from http://www.wxpython.org.
- *PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on Mac
- OS X. More information can be found at
- http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/intro.
- Distributing Python Applications on the Mac
- ===========================================
- The "Build Applet" tool that is placed in the MacPython 2.5 folder is fine for
- packaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Mac
- application. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Python
- applications to other users.
- The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is
- :program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found
- at http://undefined.org/python/#py2app.
- Application Scripting
- =====================
- Python can also be used to script other Mac applications via Apple's Open
- Scripting Architecture (OSA); see http://appscript.sourceforge.net. Appscript is
- a high-level, user-friendly Apple event bridge that allows you to control
- scriptable Mac OS X applications using ordinary Python scripts. Appscript makes
- Python a serious alternative to Apple's own *AppleScript* language for
- automating your Mac. A related package, *PyOSA*, is an OSA language component
- for the Python scripting language, allowing Python code to be executed by any
- OSA-enabled application (Script Editor, Mail, iTunes, etc.). PyOSA makes Python
- a full peer to AppleScript.
- Other Resources
- ===============
- The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and
- developers on the Mac:
- http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/
- Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki:
- http://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython