[Pythonmac-SIG] For your eyes only: MacPython-OS9 2.3 installer

[Tom Loredo]

Hi Jack-

I'm about to head out of town for a business trip, but I thought I'd
give the installers a quick try before I left.  I tried both the
OS9 and OSX installers on a G4 QuickSilver, the OS9 while booted
into 9.2.2, and the OSX one booted into 10.2.6.  Unfortunately I
can only offer limited feedback because most of my python computing
is running cross-platform scripts with no GUIs that work at my
office computer (Solaris) and on the Mac at home.  So I am not
exercising the Mac GUI stuff (except via the IDE) and I only
minimally use the macfs module.

The OS9 installer ran fine, and the interpreter and IDE both appear
to work as before for the most part.  Many of my scripts do numerical
stuff and rely on my own extensions, but unfortunately I could not
build my extensions because I am still using CW5 (the patch that let
2.2 work with CW5 does not succeed with 2.3, but it only gives a
few errors and I think I may just need updated headers; no time to
look into it now).  I did successfully run some scripts that use
PIL, and also successfully imported Numeric and verified basic stuff
works.  I didn't run the test suite yet---it slipped my mind!  I'll
try it before I leave.

Two slight peculiarities:  To successfully "import Image" I had
to add the PIL directory to my Python path (i.e., PIL.pth appears
not to work as it does on my Solaris box); I think I've always
had to do this but 2.2 was long enough ago that I don't remember
for sure.  Also, when I start the IDE, it does not automatically
open an interpreter window as it did before.  I like having it
there and find it a nuisance to have to open it manually; I couldn't
find a way to change this default behavior with the preferences.

The OS X installer also ran without a hitch, and again ran basic
numeric scripts fine.  I also verified that it didn't affect the
Apple python installation.

I wish I could offer you more thorough testing, but time constraints
prevent this.  Hopefully this small extra "datum" will be useful
anyway.

-Tom Loredo