symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/using/mac.rst
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     2 .. _using-on-mac:
       
     3 
       
     4 ***************************
       
     5 Using Python on a Macintosh
       
     6 ***************************
       
     7 
       
     8 :Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>
       
     9 
       
    10 
       
    11 Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python on
       
    12 any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as
       
    13 the IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.
       
    14 
       
    15 The Mac-specific modules are documented in :ref:`mac-specific-services`.
       
    16 
       
    17 Python on Mac OS 9 or earlier can be quite different from Python on Unix or
       
    18 Windows, but is beyond the scope of this manual, as that platform is no longer
       
    19 supported, starting with Python 2.4. See http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython for
       
    20 installers for the latest 2.3 release for Mac OS 9 and related documentation.
       
    21 
       
    22 
       
    23 .. _getting-osx:
       
    24 
       
    25 Getting and Installing MacPython
       
    26 ================================
       
    27 
       
    28 Mac OS X 10.5 comes with Python 2.5.1 pre-installed by Apple.  If you wish, you
       
    29 are 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
       
    31 runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available there.
       
    32 
       
    33 What 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 
       
    46 The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in
       
    47 :file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`,
       
    48 respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are
       
    49 Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software.  Remember that
       
    50 if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have
       
    51 two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will
       
    52 be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.
       
    53 
       
    54 IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you
       
    55 are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction
       
    56 in that document.
       
    57 
       
    58 If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the
       
    59 section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.
       
    60 
       
    61 
       
    62 How to run a Python script
       
    63 --------------------------
       
    64 
       
    65 Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLE
       
    66 integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu
       
    67 when the IDE is running.
       
    68 
       
    69 If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from
       
    70 the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with a
       
    71 number 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
       
    74 http://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 
       
    79 To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that
       
    80 :file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path.
       
    81 
       
    82 To 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 
       
    95 Running scripts with a GUI
       
    96 --------------------------
       
    97 
       
    98 With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to be
       
    99 aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,
       
   100 anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw`
       
   101 instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts.
       
   102 
       
   103 With Python 2.5, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`.
       
   104 
       
   105 
       
   106 Configuration
       
   107 -------------
       
   108 
       
   109 Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such as
       
   110 :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the
       
   111 Finder 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 
       
   115 For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section
       
   116 :ref:`mac-package-manager`.
       
   117 
       
   118 
       
   119 .. _ide:
       
   120 
       
   121 The IDE
       
   122 =======
       
   123 
       
   124 MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good
       
   125 introduction to using IDLE can be found at http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/
       
   126 dyoo/python/idle_intro/index.html.
       
   127 
       
   128 
       
   129 .. _mac-package-manager:
       
   130 
       
   131 Installing Additional Python Packages
       
   132 =====================================
       
   133 
       
   134 There 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 
       
   145 GUI Programming on the Mac
       
   146 ==========================
       
   147 
       
   148 There 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
       
   151 the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is
       
   152 available from http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net.
       
   153 
       
   154 The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`Tkinter`, based on the cross-platform
       
   155 Tk toolkit (http://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS
       
   156 X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from
       
   157 http://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.
       
   158 
       
   159 *wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on
       
   160 Mac 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
       
   163 OS X. More information can be found at
       
   164 http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pyqt/.
       
   165 
       
   166 
       
   167 Distributing Python Applications on the Mac
       
   168 ===========================================
       
   169 
       
   170 The "Build Applet" tool that is placed in the MacPython 2.5 folder is fine for
       
   171 packaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Mac
       
   172 application. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Python
       
   173 applications to other users.
       
   174 
       
   175 The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is
       
   176 :program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found
       
   177 at http://undefined.org/python/#py2app.
       
   178 
       
   179 
       
   180 Application Scripting
       
   181 =====================
       
   182 
       
   183 Python can also be used to script other Mac applications via Apple's Open
       
   184 Scripting Architecture (OSA); see http://appscript.sourceforge.net. Appscript is
       
   185 a high-level, user-friendly Apple event bridge that allows you to control
       
   186 scriptable Mac OS X applications using ordinary Python scripts. Appscript makes
       
   187 Python a serious alternative to Apple's own *AppleScript* language for
       
   188 automating your Mac. A related package, *PyOSA*, is an OSA language component
       
   189 for the Python scripting language, allowing Python code to be executed by any
       
   190 OSA-enabled application (Script Editor, Mail, iTunes, etc.). PyOSA makes Python
       
   191 a full peer to AppleScript.
       
   192 
       
   193 
       
   194 Other Resources
       
   195 ===============
       
   196 
       
   197 The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and
       
   198 developers on the Mac:
       
   199 
       
   200 http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/
       
   201 
       
   202 Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki:
       
   203 
       
   204 http://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython
       
   205