PyObjC is built and installed using the distutils package included with Python 2.0 and beyond. distutils provides a single interface for building and packaging the PyObjC via a setup.py script. To see usage documentation for setup.py, issue the --help command:
% python setup.py --help
To see an inventory of building and packaging commands, issue the command:
% python setup.py --help-commands
The following command will build and open a binary installer for PyObjC, py2app, tools, examples, and documentation:
% python setup.py bdist_mpkg --open
When multiple versions of Python are installed, the above examples will use the default interpreter. Unless you have changed your PATH environment variable, this will be the Python interpreter that ships with Mac OS X. To use PyObjC with an alternate Python interpreter, specify it explicitly or manipulate your PATH such that the location of the Python interpreter comes before /usr/bin.
Note that there is a known bug in Python 2.3.0 (as shipped with Mac OS X 10.3), such that when another framework Python is installed it will not link extensions (such as PyObjC) properly, rendering them unusable. If you intend to build PyObjC for Python 2.3.0, first install the PantherPythonFix package from pythonmac.org packages.
If you have a previous version of PyObjC installed, you may see an exception such as Wrong version of PyObjC C API. If this happens, you should delete any previous installation of PyObjC and the build folder in your new sources and try again. PyObjC will typically be installed to a folder of the same name in /Library/Python/2.3 or /Library/Python/2.3/site-packages.
When using Mac OS X 10.2, you must install the WebKit SDK from the ADC website in order to build or use the WebKit wrapper.
The examples directory contains a number of projects that demonstrate various features of the PyObjC bridge. The scripts at the top level of the examples directory were mostly written to test a particular feature of the bridge (or document a bug until a fix could be found).
CurrencyConverter and TableModel are both examples of standalone Cocoa-Python applications. To build and execute:
% cd TableModel % python setup.py py2app % open dist/TableModel.app
The preferred method for building the examples is to use a py2app-based setup.py, as above. Some examples may also have an Xcode (.xcode) or Project Builder (.pbproj) project file, but these may be out of date.
All of the examples are always installed whether or not the target operating system supports them. If an example fails to run due to a ImportError, it is likely that the example is intended for a newer version of Mac OS X.
The Xcode directory contains some file and project that make it easier to work with Python and PyObjC when using Xcode.
For documentation on these templates, see Xcode-Templates.html
Normally these Xcode templates are installed with PyObjC by the package installer. If doing development, you may copy or symlink them to the appropriate places in /Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/.
The Project Builder templates are out of date and unsupported. You should use py2app exclusively when developing on Mac OS X 10.2.
The ProjectBuilder Extras directory contains additional files that can be used with Project Builder. The directory Specifications contains files that enable syntax coloring for Python files in Project Builder.
The Project Templates directory contains project templates for Project Builder. These have to be copied to /Developer/ProjectBuilder Extras/Project Templates/Application before they are useable from Project Builder.
There are three templates available:
Cocoa-Python Application
A project created from this template is designed to implement standalone, pure-Python, applications that are compatible with Apple's build of Python as well as all other builds of python that support PyObjC.
When building the 'install' target, the resulting application wrapper will include the PyObjC module and can be launched on any stock OS X 10.2 system without requiring PyObjC to be preinstalled.
Cocoa-Python-ObjC Application
A project created from this template includes an embedded framework project into which all compiled (Objective-C) code can be placed. Upon launch, the application automatically dynamically loads the embedded framework containing the compiled code.
Each Framework's Resources directory is automatically added to sys.path.
Cocoa-Python Document-based Application
This template works like the Cocoa-Python Application template in that it is compatible with the Apple build of Python. It creates an application that uses Cocoa's Multiple Document Architecture in the same fashion as the default Cocoa Document-based Application supplied with Project Builder.
More information on project templates can be found in the Project Builder documentation and/or release notes.