Fixing Python install on the Mac after running 'CleanMyMac'

[William Ray Wing]

> On May 29, 2015, at 9:12 AM, Cem Karan <cfkaran2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On May 28, 2015, at 11:47 PM, Laura Creighton <lac at openend.se> wrote:
> 
>> webmaster at python.org just got some mail from some poor embarrased
>> soul who ran this program and broke their Python install.
>> 
>> They are running Mac OSX 10.7.5
>> 
>> They are getting:
>> 
>>    Utility has encountered a fatal error, and will now terminate.  A
>>    Python runtime could not be located. You may need to install a
>>    framework build of Python or edit the PyRuntimeLocations array in this
>>    applications info.plist file.  Then there are two oblong circles. One
>>    says Open Console. The other says Terminate.
>> 
>> So https://docs.python.org/2/using/mac.html says:
>> 
>>  The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in
>>  /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework and /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.
>> 
>> So, I assume this poor soul has done precisely that.
>> 
>> What do I tell her to do now?

As a minor addendum - you can point out that “Clean My Mac” is a well-known piece of crap-ware that is so badly written as to be labeled by most people as malware.  Best possible solution would be a clean boot and restore from a recent clone (either CarbonCopy Cloner or SuperDuper) followed by a restore of intervening files from Time Machine.  Failing that, Cem’s suggestions are good.

-Bill

> 
> Does she have a recent Time Machine backup that she can restore from?  Otherwise the solutions are all fairly painful:
> 
> 1) Install Python 2.7 from scratch (easy).  Then figure out where to put symlinks that point back to the install (mildly annoying/hard).  Note that Python 3 won't work; none of the built-in scripts expect it.
> 
> 2) OS X recovery - http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-reinstall-mac-os-x-using-internet-recovery-3593641/ I've never had to do that, so I have no idea how easy/reliable it is.  I **think** its supposed to save all the data on the drive, but again, I've not done this, so I can't make any guarantees.
> 
> 3) Wipe it clean and reinstall from scratch.
> 
> Honestly, I hope she has a time machine backup.  I've had to do recoveries a couple of times, and it can really save you.
> 
> Good luck,
> Cem Karan
> -- 
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list