[Pythonmac-SIG] My stab at a new page

[Bob Ippolito]

On Feb 9, 2006, at 8:09 PM, Rodney Somerstein wrote:

> At 1:20 PM -0800 2/9/06, Bob Ippolito wrote:
>> py2app is the solution for application packaging, and you must use
>> it  with a third party Python installation (e.g. Python 2.4.1) in
>> order  to come up with something that's redistributable and robust.
>> If you  happen to use the system Python, then you will produce a
>> package that  only runs on the particular release of Mac OS X that
>> you build it  with.  In other words, when you or your users upgrade
>> to Mac OS X  10.5, any system-Python built application bundle will
>> cease to  function at all.
>>
>> It is actually not much different than on other platforms.  Many
>> py2exe-based setup scripts work identically with py2app if you
>> change  the import statement.  Mac-specific features of course
>> require Mac- specific solutions, but the standard stuff is identical.
>>
>> There is some minimal documentation: http://undefined.org/python/  
>> py2app.html
>
> In general, I know this. I try to at least skim the messages on this
> list on a regular basis to keep up with what is going on in the
> MacPython world. But, for someone who is new to Python, the
> documentation you are pointing to is pretty rough going. It would be
> really nice to have a more basic introduction to what py2app actually
> does. Then, a step by step description of how to make it work, rather
> than just jumping into setup.py scripts. (Where does setup.py come
> from? The documentation doesn't say. I'm not asking this, just
> pointing out that it will be confusing to someone just trying to
> learn this stuff. They are going to want to know why they have to
> "build their application" when they already have it running.)
>
>> Any other questions you have can probably be answered by py2exe
>> documentation and/or this list.
>
> Yes, I'm sure they can be. I don't see any reference to actually
> taking a look at the py2exe documentation. Everything states that it
> is similar, but for the Mac. It doesn't say take a look there if you
> need more help. Or to ask here.

py2app is not a polished product and is not geared towards people  
that don't already know what they're doing.  If you want to see more  
basic docs, ask enough specific questions so that you understand the  
material and write the documentation yourself.  Send it to me, and  
I'll make sure it goes in to the next release.  This is open source,  
that's how it works.

-bob