Darwin (Not Python, yet...)

[Jeffrey P Shell]

>  A binary package for Mac OS X Server from Scott Anguish.
>  It doesn't seem to be a Debian package, which is what Darwin wants.
>  I would guess it used whatever packaging NeXT used.
>  Unpacking in manually and trying to run python I get:

Yes, it's the MacOS X Server package format, which is the old installer for
OpenStep/NeXTStep/Rhapsody.  MacOS X Server is running a much older kernel
(Mach 2.5, older BSD stuffs), so NO MacOS X Server binaries even run on
MacOS X.  A lot has changed between MacOS X Server and the current Darwin
based builds of MacOS X.

This binary installation was just plain vanilla python --  no threads, no
shared library support.  Hence, it can't be used for Zope.

>  The other version is an OS X Source distribution by Serge Beauchamp
>  which says that it's the "Same as the standard unix distribution except
>  that I changed the Make files so that it can successfully compile
>  and install on a HFS+ volume."

I got this unpacked on an HFS+ volume, and there was a python and a
libpython1.5.a in there prebuilt (again, not the shared library support i
was going for).  I tried to reconfigure it in a way that Zope seems to
prefer, and it didn't work.  (that's when I remembered I had Python sources
on my UFS partition, so I just went over there and rebuilt and got it mostly
working).

>      BTW:  <http://www.mit.edu/people/wsanchez/papers/USENIX_2000/>
>       is a paper on "The Challenges of Integrating the Unix and Mmac OS
>       Environments"  which has some interesting info about some of the
>       differences in HFS+/UFS filesystem semantics and MacOS/Unix
>       file semantics.

I've glanced at this.  Again, I'm hoping someone smarter with makefiles and
configure scripts and other joys of unix can read documents like this and
get some changes into the Python core set.  I would love to see a
threaded/shared lib ready Python in the Darwin base.  (btw:  JPython works
under MacOS X.  I get a lot of leak errors though, i think it's due to the
JVM still being in development).

>   This version actually has the binaries included and they do run
>   under Darwin! Problem is, it is distributed as a .zip file, which
>   (I think) unpacked under MacOS9 (/w Stuffit Expander) with the
>   wrong line endings, so that some of the imports don't seem to
>   work properly. ( I think this is what's wrong -- I've seem similar
>   symptoms on Mac when unix .py files get transfered as binaries.)

Find the .zip file (if Stuffit didn't destroy it) and use the 'unzip'
command in Darwin to unpack it.

>   This zip file doesn't seem to be in gunzip format so I couldn't
>   unzip it from Darwin to get the right line endings.

Hmm.  unzip worked in DP4.

>   I'll try to find another way to unpack the .zip file and try again.
>   Still ironing out a few kinks, but it's nice to know that the
>    binaries are compatible.

It's nice to see interest in Darwin.  I'm disappointed in the basicness of
the binaries though, but i am glad people are taking time to make them.

Does Darwin follow the MacOS X directory structure convention?  (ie,
/Local/Users/Bob/
/System/Library/Frameworks/...
)?