[PyQt] Need help installing PyQt on Snow Leopard

[Darren Dale]

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Bruce Anderson <bruce306 at rogers.com> wrote:
> Thanks, Darren - That's a good start, and I can try to follow that.
>
> My first challenge is getting back to the 64 bit python.  (By the way, is
> there a way to tell, once I have it, whether it is 32 bit or 64 bit?)

I guess "import sys; print sys.maxint" should tell you. It will return
9223372036854775807 for 64 bit and 2147483647 for 32 bit.

> Macport sounds like a WONDERFUL idea!

I agree its a good idea, but is it a good solution in practice? There
may be downsides to using macports, for example if you have to install
something from source that has depends on other packages which you
installed with macports, will you know how to proceed? When I first
started using mac about month ago I asked on this mailing list about
good practices and at one point the conversation turned into a
discussion on the merits of Fink and macports. Someone suggested I try
to do things "The Mac Way" for a while before embracing Fink or
Macports. I think that was good advice, I learned and tried to make
people aware of what I perceived to be important pitfalls and
workarounds. I also learned that what I missed most, having come from
gentoo linux, was the package manager that helps me keep all of the
open-source software I use up to date.

> I noticed your comments were prefaced
> with "if you are not using macports..."  I have just installed it, but want
> to do some sanity checks before I start trashing my system.  I did a SEARCH
> and found Python26 - but there is no reference to it being 32 or 64 bit -
> how do I know it is the 'right' (64 bit) one?

check sys.maxint.

> If I understand your notes below, I should macport "qt4-mac-devel" because
> the "qt4-mac" is actually 4.5.3 and the one I really want is 4.6.0?

I think py26-pyqt4 depends on the qt4-mac port, which I could not get
to build (probably because I have plenty of cores on my machine, and
it does a parallel build which can sometimes lead to missing symbols
errors in my experience with gentoo.) So you can't just "port install
qt4-mac-devel py26-pyqt4", you have to copy the qt4-mac-devel
directory from the macports repository and save it in your local
repository as qt4-mac (don't forget to change the name in the
Portfile). See the macports documentation for details on how to deal
with local repositories.

> I notice that there is also a py26-sip that macport found - I assume that is
> the right one to install after python.

Yes, but I think "port install py26-pyqt4" will pull that in for you.

> I also found a macport for py26-pyqt4.  Will macport'ing this complete the
> installation?  (i.e. replace the instructions you gave below?)

It should.

> Sorry to ask so many dumb questions, but the environment is still a bit
> alien to me.

It's ok, but lets try not to spam the list with discussion about OS X
and macports if it is not directly related to PyQt.

Darren