[Pythonmac-SIG] Why Do I Explicitly Need MacPython

[Dave Reed]

On Sep 25, 2006, at 6:31 PM, Russell E Owen wrote:

> At 5:26 PM -0400 2006-09-25, davelist at mac.com wrote:
>> I'm very interested in this and would be happy to help with  
>> testing. I teach Python at the college level using John Zelle's  
>> Python book (it uses Tk for simple GUI programs). Most of the  
>> programs run fine, but some of the more complex ones crash  
>> intermittently within Tk. The same program seems to run fine on  
>> Windows using 2.4.3 although it does crash intermittently on  
>> CentOS 4.3 within Tk.
>>
>> In the meantime, are you saying the simplest solution for my  
>> students with Macs is to use ActiveState (some have G4 laptops and  
>> some have Intel based laptops)?
>>
>> I have a G5 running 10.3.9 at work (IT isn't planning to upgrade  
>> yet) and a G5 running 10.4.x at home so I'll be happy to test on  
>> both of those.
>
> If it's bugs in Tcl/Tk that are causing the crashes then by all  
> means I would try:
> - Install ActiveState Tcl/Tk 8.4.11 or 8.4.13.
> - Install MacPython (it's better than the one from Apple, plus  
> you're about to modify python, and you shouldn't modify anything  
> in /System)
> - Modify _tkinter.so according to Bob Ippolito's recipe. At the  
> command line:
>
> install_name_tool \
>      -change /System/Library/Frameworks/Tcl.framework/Versions/8.4/ 
> Tcl \
>              /Library/Frameworks/Tcl.framework/Versions/8.4/Tcl \
>      -change /System/Library/Frameworks/Tk.framework/Versions/8.4/Tk \
>              /Library/Frameworks/Tk.framework/Versions/8.4/Tk \
> /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4/lib/python2.4/lib- 
> dynload/_tkinter.so
>
> The above command should be six lines long; you'll probably have to  
> unwrap at least the last line.
>
> An alternative is to install ActiveState Python instead of  
> MacPython, because it works with ActiveState Tcl/Tk "out of the  
> box". But it doesn't include readline. You can add readline, but I  
> think it's easier to fix _tkinter.so.
>
> -- Russell


I installed ActiveState Tcl and MacPython 2.4.3 on the 10.3.9  
machine. The /Systems/Library/Frameworks/Tk.framework directory does  
not exist (the Tcl.Framework directory does so I tried the above  
install_name_tool line with just the Tcl lines (and the final line  
with ._tkinter.so).

I can't get some Tk programs to run now. Using the graphics.py file at:
http://mcsp.wartburg.edu/zelle/python/graphics.py

I get:


$ /usr/local/bin/python
Python 2.4.3 (#1, Apr  7 2006, 10:54:33)
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5250)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
 >>> import graphics
 >>> Tk_MacOSXSetupTkNotifier: first [load] of TkAqua has to occur in  
the main thread!
Abort trap

Does anyone still have a 10.3.9 system to try importing that  
graphics.py file and see if it works for them? Any thoughts on making  
it work? I have an old python 2.3.5 from fink that does import  
graphics.py ok and works fine for many simple programs but crashes on  
more complicated programs.

I have not yet tried it on the 10.4.7 G5 yet.

Thanks,
Dave