1 2.. _using-on-mac: 3 4********************* 5Using Python on a Mac 6********************* 7 8:Author: Bob Savage <[email protected]> 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 used to come with Python 2.7 pre-installed between versions 2110.8 and `12.3 <https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-12_3-release-notes#Python>`_. 22You are invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Python 23website (https://www.python.org). A current "universal binary" build of Python, 24which runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available 25there. 26 27What you get after installing is a number of things: 28 29* A :file:`Python 3.12` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here 30 you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official 31 Python distributions; and PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python 32 scripts from the Finder. 33 34* A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the 35 Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell 36 path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A 37 symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/. 38 39The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in 40:file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`, 41respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are 42Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that 43if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have 44two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will 45be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do. 46 47IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you 48are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction 49in that document. 50 51If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the 52section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell. 53 54 55How to run a Python script 56-------------------------- 57 58Your best way to get started with Python on macOS is through the IDLE 59integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu 60when the IDE is running. 61 62If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from 63the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. macOS comes with a 64number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and 65:program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor, 66:program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see 67http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as is 68:program:`TextMate` (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors include 69:program:`Gvim` (https://macvim.org/macvim/) and :program:`Aquamacs` 70(http://aquamacs.org/). 71 72To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that 73:file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path. 74 75To run your script from the Finder you have two options: 76 77* Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher` 78 79* Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your 80 script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it. 81 :program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is 82 launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use 83 its Preferences menu to change things globally. 84 85 86.. _osx-gui-scripts: 87 88Running scripts with a GUI 89-------------------------- 90 91With older versions of Python, there is one macOS quirk that you need to be 92aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words, 93anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw` 94instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts. 95 96With Python 3.9, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`. 97 98 99Configuration 100------------- 101 102Python on macOS honors all standard Unix environment variables such as 103:envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the 104Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or 105:file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file 106:file:`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for 107details. 108 109For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section 110:ref:`mac-package-manager`. 111 112 113.. _ide: 114 115The IDE 116======= 117 118MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good 119introduction to using IDLE can be found at 120http://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html. 121 122 123.. _mac-package-manager: 124 125Installing Additional Python Packages 126===================================== 127 128There are several methods to install additional Python packages: 129 130* Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python 131 setup.py install``). 132 133* Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension 134 or :program:`pip` wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/. 135 136 137GUI Programming on the Mac 138========================== 139 140There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python. 141 142*PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is 143the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is 144available from https://pypi.org/project/pyobjc/. 145 146The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`tkinter`, based on the cross-platform 147Tk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS 148X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from 149https://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source. 150 151*wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on 152macOS. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org. 153 154*PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on 155macOS. More information can be found at 156https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro. 157 158 159Distributing Python Applications on the Mac 160=========================================== 161 162The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is 163:program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found 164at https://pypi.org/project/py2app/. 165 166 167Other Resources 168=============== 169 170The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and 171developers on the Mac: 172 173https://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/ 174 175Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki: 176 177https://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython 178 179