[Pythonmac-SIG] ActiveState's OS X Python

[Bob Ippolito]

On Jun 7, 2005, at 1:30 PM, Trent Mick wrote:

>> On Jun 7, 2005, at 8:29 AM, Larry Meyn wrote:
>>
>>> There's a new kid in town and he doesn't play nice with MacPython  
>>> (but
>>> he does ask first before kicking MacPython aside:)
>>>
>>> Any thoughts on how this affects the Python development ecosystem  
>>> for
>>> OS X? (.. and right on the heels of the Intel announcements.)
>>>
>>> http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/docs/ActivePython/2.4/
>>> installnotes.html#osxpkg
>>>
>
> Can you identify any specifics on where ActivePython doesn't play
> nicely? The "correct" place for ActivePython to install is the same
> place to which MacPython installs (so that things like builds with
> "-framework Python" work, etc.). The ActivePython installer *does*
> attempt to place nicely by moving MacPython cleanly out of the way. It
> leaves the MacPython command-line in a useable state. Specifically
> "moving MacPython aside" here means:
>     - moving /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4
>       to /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/MacPython2.4
>     - prefixing the /usr/local/bin stubs with "mac" so that you have:
>         /usr/local/bin/macpython
>         /usr/local/bin/macpythonw
>         etc.

It'd probably be better off just moving it to /Library/Frameworks/ 
Backup/Python.framework or something, for at least these reasons:

If a developer is going to naively embed ActivePython in their  
application, they'll probably just add a copy files phase to their  
Xcode project and bring in the whole framework, which if they had  
installed MacPython it would mean they'd bring in two Pythons.

/usr/local/bin/macpython will still be linking against ActivePython,  
because that's where the Mach-O load command points.
% otool -L `which python`
/usr/local/bin/python:
         /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4/Python  
(compatibility version 2.4.0, current version 2.4.0)

-bob