-
If you're running OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard):
Install XcodeTools from the optional materials on the Mac installation DVD. Installing XcodeTools automatically installs the large number of individual components also listed on the DVD.
-
If you're running OSX 10.7 or 10.8 (Lion, or Mountain Lion)
Get XCode from the Mac App store (free).
-
If you want to Enthought or python.org's python3.2
You need to get XCode 3.2 from the Apple developer website.
To build Enthought or python3.2 versions you'll also need to make a link called 'Developer' from the root of your filesystem to wherever you've installed XCode. On my system, that command is
$ ln -s /Developer-3.2.5 /Developer. This is because python.org python3.2 and enthought python2.7 both have-isysrootarguments on all their generated compiler command line strings. This flag tells gcc where to go to find SDKs, headers, etc..If you do this, you'll also want to add
/Developer/usr/binto your path so that you get the right version of gcc for your python build. -
Building for Python 2.7
If you're building for python.org's python2.7 you can use a more modern version of Xcode (e.g., 4.6) and no link is required, and no path change is needed. (We'll see what happens when they release Xcode 5!)
Install Python for the Mac ("MacPython") from python.org, or the Enthought distribution if you want to build that version.
There is already a /usr/bin/python that at the moment is up to date, but because this isn't always the case, and because the Python community seems to strongly prefer it, we will base Visual on MacPython, which is /usr/local/bin/python.
Install wxPython, preferably the Cocoa version.
The standard Python installers at python.org for the Mac install into /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/.
For Python 2.x, the installer modified .profile to add the newly
installed Python to the application search PATH. The installer also
added or changed a link
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current to point to the
newly installed Python.
It will probably happen automatically but you should check:
$ which python
to see that the correct python is being invoked from the command line. If not, update your PATH environment variable (in .profile or equivalent) to make it so.
If you have several versions of python installed (yes... that would be me). You'll want to make sure 'Current' is set correctly for whichever version of python you're building against. I've found this script useful:
#!/bin/bash
#
# switchVersion.sh
#
cd /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions
rm Current
ln -s ./$1 Current
ls -l Current
echo "Now at version $1"
If you set this script to be executable you can just say
$ ./switchVersion.sh 2.7 and it will switch the "Current" pointer
to version 2.7
Always do this before you build any of the dependencies or visual python itself.
You can get a numpy installer at http://www.numpy.org, or you can build from source. Enthought, naturally, comes with numpy already. ;-)
setup.py will attempt to resolve other requirements at https://pypi.python.org/pypi, but in case it's not successful you may need to build from source ttfquery, polygon and fonttools.
Be sure to get ttfquery 1.0.4 or later. Polygon is available at http://polygon.origo.ethz.ch/download Currently, use the Polygon 2.0.1 binary for Python 2.6, which works with Python 27; For python 3, try https://bitbucket.org/jraedler/polygon3/downloads
Note The following copyright notice applies to the Polygon module when included in the VPython distribution concerning Polygon:
"This distribution contains code from the GPC Library, and/or
code resulting from the use of the GPC Library. This usage has been
authorized by The University of Manchester, on the understanding that
the GPC-related features are used only in the context of this
distribution. It is not permitted to extract the GPC code from the
distribution as the basis for commercial exploitation, unless a GPC
Commercial Use Licence is obtained from The University of Manchester,
contact: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/gpc/".
You need Boost libraries for the Mac. See below for how to build the Boost libraries.
Unpack the boost sources and cd into the boost_1.5.x directory.
Make sure "Current" is set, and for python3.2, or enthought, make sure that /Developer/usr/bin is on your path.
For python 2.7, or enthought use this:
./bootstrap.sh --with-toolset=gcc --with-python-version=2.7 --with-python-root=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current --with-python=python2.7 --with-libraries=python,signals
./bootstrap.sh --with-toolset=gcc --with-python-version=3.2 --with-python-root=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current --with-python=python3.2 --with-libraries=python,signals
Then for python.org python2.7 or python3.2 use this:
./b2 link=static threading=multi toolset=darwin cxxflags="-arch i386 -arch x86_64"
for enthought use this:
./b2 link=static threading=multi toolset=darwin cxxflags="-arch i386"
The result is in the 'stage' directory. I keep multiple versions of the stage directory around to build various versions of visual, and make a link to the one I'm using now:
aluminum:boost_1_52_0 steve$ ls -lad stage*
lrwxr-xr-x 1 steve steve 15 Mar 2 09:51 stage -> stage-enthought
drwxr-xr-x 3 steve steve 102 Mar 1 09:38 stage-enthought
drwxr-xr-x 3 steve steve 102 Mar 1 11:06 stage-python.org-2.7
drwxr-xr-x 3 steve steve 102 Mar 1 11:17 stage-python.org-3.2
But if you are only worried about one version, you can just leave it named "stage"
Finally, in your vpython-wx folder, make a subdirectory named
dependencies and a subdirectory to that named boost_files. In
there, add some links:
./dependencies//boost_files/boost -> ../../../boost_1_52_0/boost
./dependencies//boost_files/mac_libs -> ../../../boost_1_52_0/stage/lib
to match wherever you unpacked boost.
finally in the vpython-wx directory type: $ sudo python setup.py install
You should end up with a working visual python installation!
Something goes wrong, check above to see if you missed a step (I know.. there are a lot of them!)
In src/mac/PackageMaker is an Apple PackageMaker project file, a Welcome text file for creating a VPython installer for the Mac, and instructions in packaging.txt.
I've been experimenting with various build/binary options for MacOSX/vpython during the last few weeks. I've managed to build VPython from the latest git using the tools that come with Xcode 5 (clang 5) so that it works with python.org python. The hardest part seems to be getting boost compiled/linked in a way that makes everybody happy. Here's what I have now for boost 1.55:
./bootstrap.sh --with-toolset=clang --with-python-version=2.7 --with-python-root=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current --with-python=python --with-libraries=python,signals
./b2 toolset=clang cxxflags="-stdlib=libstdc++ -arch i386 -arch x86_64" linkflags=-stdlib=libstdc++ link=static threading=multi
In the vpython source tree I've been setting:
aluminum:vpython-wx steve$ ls -laR dependencies/ total 0 drwxr-xr-x 3 steve 501 102 Feb 20 2013 . drwxr-xr-x 48 steve 501 1632 Jun 17 15:30 .. drwxr-xr-x 4 steve 501 136 Jun 16 06:47 boost_files
dependencies//boost_files: total 16 drwxr-xr-x 4 steve 501 136 Jun 16 06:47 . drwxr-xr-x 3 steve 501 102 Feb 20 2013 .. lrwxr-xr-x 1 steve 501 27 Jun 16 06:46 boost -> ../../../boost_1_55_0/boost lrwxr-xr-x 1 steve 501 31 Jun 16 06:47 mac_libs -> ../../../boost_1_55_0/stage/lib
Of course these can point to wherever your boost sources are living.
Once this is done I've been running:
python setup.py build
in the vpython source directory, then:
sudo python setup.py install
to install vpython in site-packages.
This works for python.org python and produces an "egg" distribution in site-packages:
"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/VPython-6.05-py2.7-macosx-10.6-intel.egg"
My "quick and dirty" test is to run:
python -c 'import visual; visual.sphere()'
from the command line to check it.
If you have ‘pip’ (http://pip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/installing.html) and 'virtualenv' installed (http://virtualenv.readthedocs.org/en/latest/virtualenv.html) you can create a virtual environment to play in and use wheels that I've created using this python/boost combo that works with scipy, ipython, etc. as follows:
$ virtualenv ~/testvpy
New python executable in testvpy/bin/python
Installing setuptools, pip...done.
$ source ~/testvpy/bin/activate
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$
This is a "fresh" python environment with nothing installed
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ python
Python 2.7.6 (v2.7.6:3a1db0d2747e, Nov 10 2013, 00:42:54)
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import numpy
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named numpy
>>> import scipy
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named scipy
>>> import visual
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named visual
You can use "pip" to install stuff:
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ pip install numpy
Downloading/unpacking numpy
Downloading numpy-1.8.1-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.macosx_10_9_intel.macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl (12.0MB): 12.0MB downloaded
Installing collected packages: numpy
Successfully installed numpy
Cleaning up...
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ pip install scipy
Downloading/unpacking scipy
Downloading scipy-0.14.0-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.macosx_10_9_intel.macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl (26.7MB): 26.7MB downloaded
Installing collected packages: scipy
Successfully installed scipy
Cleaning up...
I've put some wheels up to enable vpython (built as above) to work. If you are willing, I'd appreciate if you'd try this:
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/VPython-6.05-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl
Downloading/unpacking https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/VPython-6.05-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl
Downloading VPython-6.05-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl (8.7MB): 8.7MB downloaded
Installing collected packages: VPython
Successfully installed VPython
Cleaning up...
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/TTFQuery-1.0.5-py2-none-any.whl
Downloading/unpacking https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/TTFQuery-1.0.5-py2-none-any.whl
Downloading TTFQuery-1.0.5-py2-none-any.whl
Installing collected packages: TTFQuery
Successfully installed TTFQuery
Cleaning up...
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/FontTools-2.4-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl
Downloading/unpacking https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/FontTools-2.4-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl
Downloading FontTools-2.4-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl (342kB): 342kB downloaded
Requirement already satisfied (use --upgrade to upgrade): numpy in ./testvpy/lib/python2.7/site-packages (from FontTools==2.4)
Installing collected packages: FontTools
Successfully installed FontTools
Cleaning up...
(testvpy)aluminum:~ steve$ pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/Polygon2-2.0.6-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl
Downloading/unpacking https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/Polygon2-2.0.6-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl
Downloading Polygon2-2.0.6-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_intel.whl (77kB): 77kB downloaded
Installing collected packages: Polygon2
Successfully installed Polygon2
Cleaning up...
There is no "pip" way to install wxpython yet, so I just linked the wxredirect.pth file from my python.org installation of wxPython:
ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wxredirect.pth ~/testvpy/lib/python2.7/site-packages/
Also need a link to the pythonw binary:
ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/pythonw ~/testvpy/bin
Finally add a PYTHONHOME definition in the activate script:
printf '\nPYTHONHOME="$VIRTUAL_ENV"\n' >> ~/testvpy/bin/activate
Now, after you "reactivate" (close the old terminal, start a fresh one, and type:):
$ source ~/testvpy/bin/activate
You can do a quick test:
pythonw -c 'import visual; visual.sphere()'
Notes for installing vpython on MacOSX for Enthought Canopy:
You can install vpython in the main canopy environment by running the canopy application and selecting:
Tools -> Canopy Terminal
You can install from wheels by upgrading pip. Download:
https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
and execute:
(Canopy 64bit) $python ~/Downloads/get-pip.py
Then install from binary wheels on Dropbox:
(Canopy 64bit) $pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/VPython-6.10-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_x86_64.whl (Canopy 64bit) $pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/Polygon2-2.0.6-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_x86_64.whl (Canopy 64bit) $pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/FontTools-2.4-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_x86_64.whl (Canopy 64bit) $pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/TTFQuery-1.0.4-py2-none-any.whl
OR
You can install vpython in a virtual environment without disturbing your global canopy environment
You can install from wheels by upgrading pip. Download:
https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
and execute:
~/my_venv/bin/python ~/Downloads/get-pip.py
Then install from binary wheels on Dropbox:
~/my_venv/bin/pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/VPython-6.10-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_x86_64.whl ~/my_venv/bin/pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/Polygon2-2.0.6-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_x86_64.whl ~/my_venv/bin/pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/FontTools-2.4-cp27-none-macosx_10_6_x86_64.whl ~/my_venv/bin/pip install https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20562746/VPythonWheels/canopy/TTFQuery-1.0.4-py2-none-any.whl
OR
You can build vpython from source, but you'll need to built boost as well:
in the boost boost_1_55_0 directory execute:
./bootstrap.sh --with-toolset=clang --with-python-version=2.7 --with-python=python --with-python-root=/Applications/Canopy.app/appdata/canopy-1.4.0.1938.macosx-x86_64/Canopy.app/Contents/ --with-libraries=python,signals
./b2 toolset=clang cxxflags="-stdlib=libstdc++ -arch x86_64" linkflags=-stdlib=libstdc++ -j2 link=static threading=multi
then in the vpython-wx source directory follow the same instructions from above for XCODE5.
Notes for installing vpython on MacOSX for brew:
brew install boost --c++11 --with-python
Then build per above instructions for XCODE5.
You don't need to worry about the 'dependencies' folder since brew puts boost libs in /usr/local/lib where the compiler will find them by default.
Brew also has a formula for wxpython which is new enough (3.0+) to work with visual python 6 if you want to use that one.