Ned Deily <n...@acm.org> wrote: > In article <64461.1302209...@parc.com>, Bill Janssen <jans...@parc.com> > wrote: > > I've got a Snow Leopard buildslave I'm trying to debug. So I thought > > I'd try Python 2.7 on it. Normally, I advise people to never try to > > install a different Python on a Mac, as it's too embedded in the OS to > > do safely, without a great deal of domain knowledge. But here, I > > figured I could always wipe the disk and start over without too much > > loss. > > I don't understand why you would say that.
I think it's gotten immensely better over the years, thanks to the efforts of folks like you and Ronald. But I still think it tends to have too many side-effects which surprise and confuse people. > The huge advantage of the > Python framework installation layout on OS X is precisely that it > *doesn't* get embedded into the OS and *does* allow multiple versions of > Python to co-exist on a system far more easily and safely than with the > traditional Python Unix layout. With a very few exceptions, all of the > files installed are under one root > (Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/m.n/) with some auxiliary > files under another (/Applications/Python m.n) and optionally some > symlinks in /usr/local/bin, with *zero* overlap with any Apple-supplied > files in OS X including the Apple-supplies Pythons. If for some reason > you do want to uninstall a framework build, it's a matter of two 'rm' > commands and optionally removing some obvious symlinks in /usr/local/bin > (which are not needed in the first place). An official uninstall > command would be nice to have and has been requested in the past (see > http://bugs.python.org/issue7107). Yes, that would be nice. > > So, why didn't I notice myself checking the checkbox to do this in the > > first place, and where is my original .bash_profile file? > > The Python 2.7.1 installer welcome file, the text that is shown in the > first installer screen, says this: > > "This package will by default update your shell profile to ensure that > this version of Python is on the search path of your shell. Please > deselect the "Shell profile updater" package on the package > customization screen if you want to avoid this modification. > Double-click Update Shell Profile at any time to make 2.7.1 the default > Python." So it's a default operation. > (Earlier installers had slightly different wordings.) > > The command that does this is in /Applications/Python m.n/Update Shell > Profile.command. Normally, it should have saved your .bash_profile as > ~/.bash_profile.pysave, but, even if it didn't, the only modification it > makes to your original .bash_profile is to append these (or similar) > lines to the end of the file: > > # Setting PATH for Python 2.7 > # The orginal version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave > PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:${PATH}" > export PATH > > Hope that helps! Yes, thanks, very complete explanation. Like I said, I never run this installer, so lack of familiarity on my part is most of the problem. Though, I wouldn't have defaulted that path hacking to "On". But I understand the problem with the range of user knowledge you guys are trying to cope with. Bill _______________________________________________ Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/Pythonmac-SIG