[Pythonmac-SIG] My stab at a new page

[has]

Bill Janssen wrote:

> > 1. Link to the "Macintosh Library Module": A lot of that stuff will be
> > rendered obsolete the minute Bob releases the universal build of
> > MacPython. PythonIDE, Package Manager, etc.: not gonna be included. At a
> > minimum, you should note that this stuff is "legacy."
> >
> > 2. Ditto for "Apple Events." Does anyone use gensuitemodule or even know
> > what it means?
>
>Hey, I'm linking to the official documentation.  That's what people
>will use, till it changes.  All this other stuff scattered around is
>blue-sky wild-ass future, till it's documented.

Problem with the official Mac-specific modules and documentation is there's quite of stuff in there that hasn't been correct/usable since OS 9. It's just that nobody's gotten around to dealing with it. Experienced users already know which bits to avoid, so there's not huge impetus to clean it out properly. Doesn't mean you want to steer newbies towards it though.

e.g. There's precious little point in linking to gensuitemodule: while it's always been a bit flaky, it appears to be pretty well broken in Tiger. (I've tried it a few times and it just barfs up a variety of errors, and I've seen other reports so it's not just me.)

You'd be better not linking to anything at all than linking to obsolete/broken junk like that, because it just makes the rest of Mac Python look bad.


FWIW, I did start looking into the issue, but I'm not really qualified to make a call on a lot of the stuff there and I had more immediate things to be getting on with anyway. Still, from my notes, if it's any use:

- mac, macpath -- deprecate now. (Are these ever used on OS X?)

- macfs -- already deprecated.

- FrameWork, gensuitemodule, aetools, aepack, aetypes, MiniAEFrame -- deprecate now.

- findertools, Nav, nsremote, W -- deprecate now.

- os/os.path -- docs appear to contain various misleading statements about using Python on Mac that apply only to OS 9, not OS X; fix/remove those statements.

- EasyDialogs -- still used on OS X but lacks Unicode support and strings are limited to 255-chars

- MacOS -- OS9 docs could be stripped out; GetCreatorAndType() and Set CreatorAndType() need fixed or deprecated (don't work on bundles)

There's almost certainly more that could be axed by someone who knows what they're looking at. Maybe when I've more time I'll try to do more on this; be nice if it was addressed for Python 2.5. (Wonder what 2.5's schedule is?)

HTH

has
-- 
http://freespace.virgin.net/hamish.sanderson/