How to install Python 1.6a2 on your Macintosh --------------------------------------------- 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.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 ------- This is an alfa version, and for this once it really means that: there are quite a few features that have only lightly been tested, and bugs are to be expected. Aside from the general Python 1.6 features like unicode support the main new features of this MacPython release is support for multithreading. This has had some preliminary testing, but please report any success or failure on the mailing list. This installer installs MacPython for PowerPC only, whether a 68K distribution of Python 1.6 will happen is not certain at the moment. Changes since 1.6a1 ------------------- - All core-Python changes, plus a few from after 1.6a2, approximately as the Python CVS tree was at May 5. - The threading performance bug has been fixed. - Tkinter is included again (yeah!), but only lightly tested. Please report findings to the mailing list. - macfsn.py is auto-imported on startup (unless disabled with a new option). This retrofits macfs.StandardGetFile() and friends to use Navigation Services in stead of the old Standard File dialogs. - I think all installer problems have been fixed. Please report if not so. 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 project files still contain the 68K targets (they're simply skipped by the build process) so all that is needed is CodeWarrior, a source distribution and commitment. 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. - 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. If you don't have enough memory: the sizes choosen are somewhat arbitrary. Try lowering the application sizes in the finder "get info" window, and seeing whether the resulting python is still usable. Some modules (Tkinter comes to mind) need a lot of memory, so it may also be necessary to increase the application size. After installing ---------------- The first step thing you could try is to run "compileall.py" to create all .pyc files, but this isn't very important, as pyc files are created on-the-fly as well. You may also want to skip this step if you are low on diskspace. Next, it is probably a good idea to run the automatic tests. Start Python and "import test.autotest". This should not print only one error, about some AM/PM format not supported in strftime. It will, however, print some messages about optional features not supported. 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). Uninstalling ------------ Two items are installed in the system folder: the interpreter shared library "PythonCore 1.6a2" lives in the Extensions folder and the "Python 1.6a2 Preferences" file 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 readme files in the "Read me files" 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 "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. 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 ------------------------------------ Since release 1.4 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 1.6a2 works as expected you can trash anything in the system folder that has "python" in the name and not "1.6a2". The installer ------------- 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: mindvision@mindvision.com http://www.mindvision.com Just van Rossum created the initial version of the installer (with Installer Vise Lite), and Jack worked from there. Thanks! ------- 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, Erik van Blokland, Bill Bedford, Chris Stern, Gordon Worley and all the other people who provided feedback, code or both! Feedback -------- Send bug reports, suggestions, contributions and fanmail to . However, a better way to discuss MacPython is to join the mailing list, which is explicitly meant for this purpose. Alternatively, you can try sending to comp.lang.python or python-list@cwi.nl, but since I read the newsgroup, not the mailinglist, I may miss it there (but other people may know quite a bit more than me anyway:-). Jack Jansen Oratrix Development BV Valeriusplein 30 Amsterdam the Netherlands , http://www.cwi.nl/~jack