[Pythonmac-SIG] a beginner's list

[Bill Janssen]

Christopher Barker writes:
> When (If) he upgrades OS-X, 
> that app will break. Almost every other app he has installed on his 
> system will continue to work, but the python based one will not. This 
> would apply to any app using the built in python and any extensions: 
> simple scripts, py2app bundles, etc.

Hmmm.  I upgrade a lot, even move from Solaris to Mac OS X, and most
(all?) of my Python programs continue to work against /usr/bin/python.
If apps don't, that seems to me to be a problem with the current state
of Python apps, not with Python.  File a bug report with whoever
supports building apps with Python (Apple doesn't seem to be the
place).  I can see that this would be a major concern for developers
targetting the Mac platform.  But confusing the user by making them
install a second Python wouldn't seem to be the right answer to this
problem (to me, at least).  In fact, it seems (to me) a really
user-hostile approach, and a good reason to look for a different app.

If I was building an app that was written in Python, given the current
state of MacPython and what I've read on this list over the years, I'd
try to include the whole Python VM in that app bundle.

Bill