[SciPy-user] Scipy and ipython and Aquaterm

[Robert Kern]

Zhiwen Chong wrote:
> Hi John
> 
> Thanks for your matplotlib recommendation. And I really appreciate  the 
> bits of info about wx and ipython.
> 
> I was trying to get matplotlib to install earlier today but was  having 
> a lot of trouble, because:
> 
> 1) I decided I didn't want to use Fink. Fink almost NEVER works for  any 
> of the programs I need, and it coexists badly with Apple's  bundled 
> libraries, compilers etc.

Indeed.

> 2) So I downloaded the .mpkg on http://pythonmac.org/packages/ which  
> Chris Barker kindly provided, but that didn't work because the  
> installer assumed I had Python 2.3 (I am using Python 2.4.1) and  
> insisted on putting stuff in Library/Python/2.3 and /System/Library/ 
> Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/share/matplotlib. (These  paths 
> were hard-coded into the Info.plists in the .mpkg).
> I thought of doing a 'grep -r "2.3" *' inside the .mpkg's directory  to 
> find all references to Python 2.3 and change them to 2.4, but I  finally 
> decided this was perhaps not the best way to go about doing it.

That wouldn't work anyways. Python extension modules aren't compatible 
between 2.3 and 2.4.

> 3) So this leaves one option: compiling matplotlib manually (which  I'm 
> dreading because I'll need to manually find and compile all the  
> dependencies like libpng, freetype etc.). Fortunately, Chris Barker  
> wrote a included a nice set of detailed instructions for compiling  
> matplotlib in his package, so I'm going to have to go through that  
> slowly when I have the time.
> 
> Either that, or I'm going to have to look into Darwinports.

That is what I do to get libpng et al. Works like a charm.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter