[Pythonmac-SIG] wxMacPython status:

[Chris Barker]

Donovan Preston wrote:

> Of course, it is not cross platform. My opinion is the most promising
> solution for cross platform GUI python apps would be wxPython, but there
> continues to not be a wxPython for the Mac, and probably won't be for
> quite some time. People have been bemoaning the lack of wxPython on the
> mac for quite a few years.

It did sound like the OP was working with multiple platforms, so a cross
platform solution would be best. The news on wxPython is a little better
that jyou have made it sound. Here is an update as I understand it.

Robin Dunn, the wxPython developer has been given a Mac by Apple, and is
working on wxPython for the Mac. He has a whhole lot on his plate, and
has little Mac experience, so it is slow going.

Stefan Csomor, the C++ wxMac developer, also made a start at a
wxMacPython, but has since decided to wait and see what Robin will come
up with. Robin is primarily targeting OS-X, but Stefan has said that he
will do the Classic version if need be, as many folks are still running
Classic. It is Carbon based, so it will only work on versions with
Carbonlib available (8.6 and up I believe)

The C++ wxWindows has recently seen quite a lot of improvement, and, as
I understand it, is pretty close in functionality to the MSW and GTK
versions.

MacPython's Jack Jansen has said that he has no time to work on wx, but
is happy to answer questions and help out when he can.

I recently got an offer from Apple to provide some level of support to
the project. How much is yet to be determined, but they mentioned
possibly lending hardware and tech support. At the moment, is seems
everyone working on it is limited by time, and neither hardware nor tech
support will help much. If, however, one of you has the time and skills
to work on it, let me know. I am acting as the point of contact to Apple
at the moment, and I might be able to get you a machine and some tech
support.

The short version is:

wxMacPython is coming, we don't know when, and if you have time and C++,
Python, and Mac Programming skills, you can help, and you might even get
help from Apple.

-Chris

-- 
Christopher Barker,
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