[Zope] Reality check PYZOMA = python / zope for Mac ?

Jim Harrison jhrsn@pitt.edu
Sat, 23 Dec 2000 18:17:56 -0500


> Does anyone know what Apple's plans are for MacOSX introduction to broad
> mass market.?
> Will it be the default AppleOS by end of 2001?
-------------------
> Zope-2.3a1 runs with Python-1.5.2. I've run Zope-2.2.x on MacOSX
> and it runs great. At some point someone with time, or a paying customer,
> or both will get an Open Database (MySQL, PostegreSQL, ... ) running on
> MacOSX and we'll have a full fledged solution.
--------------------
> If one needs to install Zope __now__ on non-MacOSX machines, what is the
> story?

Zope apparently has some problems with Python 2.0 and requires Python 1.5.2
to run correctly. 1.5.2 is not multithreaded under the classic Mac OS and
thus will not support Zope. (2.0 is multithreaded on the Mac, but doesn't
work with Zope, though whether this is due only to the Python version or
also includes other issues, I don't know).

The speculation now is that OSX will be announced in February in proximity
with MacWorld Tokyo and become available for purchase around that time.
Apple has announced plans to ship OSX on new machines beginning in the
summer. As usual, though, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if the dates
slipped. There are ongoing issues around the OSX interface. However, it
appears that Apple intends to minimize the overlap period between the
classic Mac OS and OSX. I'd guess it will be the default OS by the end of
2001, but there will remain a substantial installed base of the classic
system for some time.

OSX is basically BSD unix with a proprietary presentation layer on top.
Disks can be formatted with either a typical unixish case-sensitive file
sysem or the Mac HFS+ extended file system, which is case insensitive. Most
Mac users would probably choose the latter, which can cause problems with
module and directory names when case sensitivity is assumed. I believe this
problem affects building both Python and Zope. In addition, some of the
standard file paths are different in OSX (e.g., to the java VM) and require
a little investigating and editing to get things to work right. I've also
heard that the gnu c compiler is named 'cc' rather than 'gcc' and that this
can be a problem in some installs. Many things install correctly with no
trouble, but it's not unusual to have to tweak a bit. Ultimately these
issues will become generally known and things will be less of a guessing
game than than are now.

Tony Lownds has compiled Python 2.0 for Mac OSX
<http://tony.lownds.com/macosx/>, which installs fine. I haven't found a
source for a compiled 1.5.2. I've tried to follow Steve's directions for the
1.5.2 build at <http://www.zope.org/Members/sspickle/MacOSXBHFS> but I
haven't been successful with that as yet. I also tried Zope with Python 2
(above) but wasn't able to get it to build correctly. Incidentally (in
response to a previous comment), a compiled binary of MySQL (3.23.27) for
MacOSX/Darwin is available at
<http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-3.23.html> under "Older and
contributed versions."

As an aside, OSX has pretty good Java support (JVM 1.2.2) and both JPython
<www.jpython.org> and Jython <jython.sourceforge.net> compile and run fine
(you must install jython with the '-unix' option because it doesn't
recognize MacOSX). I've been experimenting with servlet containers (Tomcat,
jakarta.apache.org) with the idea of writing servlets in Jython (example
code for these is available). I've also played around with Enhydra
<www.enhydra.org> and that also runs fine on OSX. jhh.cbmi.upmc.edu is a
MacOSX machine running Tomcat and Jython which will hopefully have some
Jython demo servlets up sometime next week. This machine will also get a
Zope installation as soon as the OSX issues are worked out.

Jim Harrison
Univ. of Pittsburgh