[Pythonmac-SIG] What is the future of Python on OSX?

[Chris Barker]

Kevin Ollivier wrote:
> I would really, really like to see wxPython become a standard GUI for
> Python.

So would I, but only to the extent that I want a "standard" GUI at all!

> I think it is quite usable and powerful, provides a native look
> and feel, gives good performance, and now it does run on all major
> platforms. My guess is, however, that it hasn't been included for size
> reasons. Anyone else have more info on this?

It hasn't been included in the standard disto for a number of reasons,
but I don't hink size is a big one. The main one is maturity and
stability of versions. Untill fairly recently, wxPython was a pretty
fast-moving target. wxWindows is under a whole lot more fast development
than TK. It may be that wxPython is now mature enough to be included,
but I doubt that it will any time soon. The Core developers are very
reluctant to add new packages to the "official" distribution, and
rightly so. Personally, I don't hink it's such a big deal. Frankly I
depend on a number of extra packages for my work, Python would be a
whole lot less usefull without them (Numeric, PIL, mxDateTime, ... ).
The Offical Distribution of Python will never have al these packages
included.

That doesn't mean that we can't have a more complete MacPython. In fact,
Jack established this precident by including PIL and Numeric in
MacPython for years. What we need is an easy way to add packages, and a
repository to put them all in. Jack has some good ideas about that...

> I actually do have a single-file,
> point-and-click, installer for my OS X wxPython app.

Cool! How did you do this? Do you think McMillian's installer could be
ported to OS-X ? would that be a better or worse option than the
BuildApplication approach?-CHris

Chris

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Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
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