1 2.. _using-on-mac: 3 4********************* 5Using Python on a Mac 6********************* 7 8:Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com> 9 10 11Python on a Mac running macOS is in principle very similar to Python on 12any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as 13the IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out. 14 15.. _getting-osx: 16 17Getting and Installing MacPython 18================================ 19 20macOS since version 10.8 comes with Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, you 21are invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Python 22website (https://www.python.org). A current "universal binary" build of Python, 23which runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available 24there. 25 26What you get after installing is a number of things: 27 28* A :file:`Python 3.9` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here 29 you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official 30 Python distributions; and PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python 31 scripts from the Finder. 32 33* A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the 34 Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell 35 path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A 36 symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/. 37 38The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in 39:file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`, 40respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are 41Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that 42if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have 43two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will 44be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do. 45 46IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you 47are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction 48in that document. 49 50If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the 51section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell. 52 53 54How to run a Python script 55-------------------------- 56 57Your best way to get started with Python on macOS is through the IDLE 58integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu 59when the IDE is running. 60 61If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from 62the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. macOS comes with a 63number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and 64:program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor, 65:program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see 66http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as is 67:program:`TextMate` (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors include 68:program:`Gvim` (http://macvim-dev.github.io/macvim/) and :program:`Aquamacs` 69(http://aquamacs.org/). 70 71To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that 72:file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path. 73 74To run your script from the Finder you have two options: 75 76* Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher` 77 78* Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your 79 script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it. 80 :program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is 81 launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use 82 its Preferences menu to change things globally. 83 84 85.. _osx-gui-scripts: 86 87Running scripts with a GUI 88-------------------------- 89 90With older versions of Python, there is one macOS quirk that you need to be 91aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words, 92anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw` 93instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts. 94 95With Python 3.9, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`. 96 97 98Configuration 99------------- 100 101Python on macOS honors all standard Unix environment variables such as 102:envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the 103Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or 104:file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file 105:file:`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for 106details. 107 108For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section 109:ref:`mac-package-manager`. 110 111 112.. _ide: 113 114The IDE 115======= 116 117MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good 118introduction to using IDLE can be found at 119http://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html. 120 121 122.. _mac-package-manager: 123 124Installing Additional Python Packages 125===================================== 126 127There are several methods to install additional Python packages: 128 129* Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python 130 setup.py install``). 131 132* Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension 133 or :program:`pip` wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/. 134 135 136GUI Programming on the Mac 137========================== 138 139There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python. 140 141*PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is 142the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is 143available from https://pypi.org/project/pyobjc/. 144 145The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`tkinter`, based on the cross-platform 146Tk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS 147X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from 148https://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source. 149 150*wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on 151macOS. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org. 152 153*PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on 154macOS. More information can be found at 155https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro. 156 157 158Distributing Python Applications on the Mac 159=========================================== 160 161The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is 162:program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found 163at http://undefined.org/python/#py2app. 164 165 166Other Resources 167=============== 168 169The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and 170developers on the Mac: 171 172https://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/ 173 174Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki: 175 176https://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython 177 178