1 2 .. _using-on-mac: 3 4 *************************** 5 Using Python on a Macintosh 6 *************************** 7 8 :Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage (a] 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 .. _getting-osx: 16 17 Getting and Installing MacPython 18 ================================ 19 20 Mac OS X 10.8 comes with Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, you 21 are invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Python 22 website (https://www.python.org). A current "universal binary" build of Python, 23 which runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available 24 there. 25 26 What you get after installing is a number of things: 27 28 * A :file:`MacPython 3.6` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here 29 you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official 30 Python distributions; PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python 31 scripts from the Finder; and the "Build Applet" tool, which allows you to 32 package Python scripts as standalone applications on your system. 33 34 * A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the 35 Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell 36 path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A 37 symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/. 38 39 The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in 40 :file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`, 41 respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are 42 Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that 43 if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have 44 two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will 45 be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do. 46 47 IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you 48 are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction 49 in that document. 50 51 If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the 52 section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell. 53 54 55 How to run a Python script 56 -------------------------- 57 58 Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLE 59 integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu 60 when the IDE is running. 61 62 If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from 63 the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with a 64 number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and 65 :program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor, 66 :program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see 67 http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as is 68 :program:`TextMate` (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors include 69 :program:`Gvim` (http://macvim-dev.github.io/macvim/) and :program:`Aquamacs` 70 (http://aquamacs.org/). 71 72 To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that 73 :file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path. 74 75 To run your script from the Finder you have two options: 76 77 * Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher` 78 79 * Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your 80 script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it. 81 :program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is 82 launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use 83 its Preferences menu to change things globally. 84 85 86 .. _osx-gui-scripts: 87 88 Running scripts with a GUI 89 -------------------------- 90 91 With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to be 92 aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words, 93 anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw` 94 instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts. 95 96 With Python 3.6, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`. 97 98 99 Configuration 100 ------------- 101 102 Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such as 103 :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the 104 Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or 105 :file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file 106 :file:`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for 107 details. 108 109 For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section 110 :ref:`mac-package-manager`. 111 112 113 .. _ide: 114 115 The IDE 116 ======= 117 118 MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good 119 introduction to using IDLE can be found at 120 http://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html. 121 122 123 .. _mac-package-manager: 124 125 Installing Additional Python Packages 126 ===================================== 127 128 There are several methods to install additional Python packages: 129 130 * Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python 131 setup.py install``). 132 133 * Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension 134 or :program:`pip` wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/. 135 136 137 GUI Programming on the Mac 138 ========================== 139 140 There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python. 141 142 *PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is 143 the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is 144 available from https://pythonhosted.org/pyobjc/. 145 146 The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`tkinter`, based on the cross-platform 147 Tk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS 148 X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from 149 https://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source. 150 151 *wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on 152 Mac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org. 153 154 *PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on Mac 155 OS X. More information can be found at 156 https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro. 157 158 159 Distributing Python Applications on the Mac 160 =========================================== 161 162 The "Build Applet" tool that is placed in the MacPython 3.6 folder is fine for 163 packaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Mac 164 application. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Python 165 applications to other users. 166 167 The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is 168 :program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found 169 at http://undefined.org/python/#py2app. 170 171 172 Other Resources 173 =============== 174 175 The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and 176 developers on the Mac: 177 178 https://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/ 179 180 Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki: 181 182 https://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython 183 184
