[Numpy-discussion] recommended way to run numpy on snow leopard

[David Warde-Farley]

On 21-Oct-09, at 6:58 AM, Robin wrote:

> My only worry is with installer packages - I'm thinking mainly of
> wxpython. Is there a way I can get that package to install in
> $HOME/.local. (The installer only seems to let you choose a drive).
> Also - if I build for example vim against the system python, will I be
> able to see packages in $HOME/.local from the python interpreter
> inside vim?

wxPython is going to be a problem with 64-bit Python. Namely, wxMac is  
based on Carbon, there is no 64-bit Carbon, and the wxCocoa port is  
not quite up to snuff. At any rate, any binary installer packages will  
almost certainly *not* work with the system python, at least if it  
runs in 64-bit mode by default.

The Python.org sources for 2.6.x has a script in the Mac/ subdirectory  
(I think, or in the build tools) for building a 4-way universal binary  
(i386, x86_64, ppc and ppc64). You can rather easily build it (just  
run the script) and it will produce executables of the form python (or  
python2.6) suffixed with -32 or -64 to run in one mode or the other.  
So, python-32 (or python2.6-32) will get you 32 bit Python, which will  
work with wxPython using wxMac, or python-64, which will not (but will  
do everything in 64-bit mode). I've successfully gotten svn numpy to  
build 4-way using such a 4-way Python.

David