[Pythonmac-SIG] Re: MacPython Install

[Russell E. Owen]

In article <6FB2D546-98F5-11D8-A309-000A9579123A at ldml.com>,
 Simon Forster <simon-lists at ldml.com> wrote:

> I would like to "upgrade" my instal of Python to MacPython. I'm running 
> Mac OS 10.3.3 and, having just used the MacPython additions installer, 
> I realise that its updated the system copy of Python, not my instal.
> 
> Question: How do I add the appropriate modules to my 
> /usr/local/bin/Python2.3/ (my 2.3.3 instal) rather than the system 
> versh? I've looked through MacPython's FAQ as suggested elsewhere on 
> the MacPython web site but I didn't see anything directly relevant.

This is a bit confusing as stated.

MacOS X 10.3 comes with python 2.3.0 in /System. You should not touch 
that. You will not ever get it up to 2.3.3. Also, it does NOT coexist 
well with other MacPython aqua/python installations.

If you just ran the MacPython extras installer then you are safe. This 
uses the Python in /System without touching it, but adds a MacPython 
folder in Applications with useful extras such as an IDE, the Package 
Manager and help.

This built in python puts extra modules in /Library/Python/2.3/ and if 
you do the normal distutils thing to install packages (or use Package 
Manager) then that is exactly where they will end up.

If you installed Python 2.3.3 as an aqua/Mac installation (rather than a 
straight unix/X install) then you can expect conflicts and trouble. I'm 
not fully up on what goes wrong, but it is a bad idea.

You *CAN* safely install plain vanilla unix/X python (and I do that 
myself). In that case add-on packages are not shared so you'll have to 
install them twice, once per version of python, being sure to use the 
right version of python in both cases. For example:

/usr/local/bin/python setup.py install
vs
/usr/bin/python setup.py install

or if you have /usr/local/bin first on your path you can do as I do:
python setup.py install for unix python
pythonw setup.py install for aqua python

I hope this didn't make things yet more confusing.

-- Russell