Jun 30 2008

Python and Django Setup for Mac OS X Leopard

Tags: Mac, Python, Django, Technical

Even though Leopard ships with a fairly recent version of Python (2.5.1), there are several reasons one would want to use an alternative installation. For instance, Python 2.3.5 shipped with Tiger and was growing pretty long in the tooth by the time Leopard arrived; 2.3 was the default installation on Panther.

I've tried a few approaches to installing newer versions on the Mac: several years ago, I played around with Fink, then switched to MacPorts (formerly DarwinPorts). While either of these package managers make it very easy to install various software pacakages on the Mac, they each presented certain problems or limitations with respect to Python and the other web development packages I need.

My current preferred solution is to go with the MacPython distribution found on the Python website. There is also a great SIG (http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig) for getting help.

From http://www.python.org/download/mac/:

Python comes pre-installed on Mac OS X, but due to Apple's release cycle, it's often one or even two years old. The overwhelming recommendation of the "MacPython" community is to upgrade your Python by downloading and installing a newer version.

Listed below are the steps to setting up some of the most common Python packages used to for web development, particularly with respect to Django.

Getting started

Basic assumptions

  • Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) - as of the date of this posting, I am on 10.5.3

  • Subversion - you can find an installer at http://subversion.tigris.org/

  • I use MySQL, so instructions for installing it and the necessary Python bindings (MySQLdb) are shown. If anyone has detailed instructions for Postgres installation, please send them to me at python [at] dakrauth.com

  • An installation directory to use for these steps. For instance, here's how I began (from a Terminal window, bash shell): 

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    mkdir -p ~/python/install
mkdir ~/python/site-packages
cd ~/python/install

    I use ~/python/site-packages as an easy way of referencing packages that will change frequently or for creating a pseudo-virtual environment. More on this below.

Installations

Python 2.5.2

  • MacPython installation: 

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    curl -O http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.5.2/python-2.5.2-macosx.dmg
open python-2.5.2-macosx.dmg
open /Volumes/Universal\ MacPython\ 2.5.2/MacPython.mpkg
hdiutil unmount /Volumes/Universal\ MacPython\ 2.5.2/

    This installation will create the site-packages directory at: 

    /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python2.5/site-packages

    Additionally, your .profile file will be updated to place the above path at the front of you $PATH environment variable. I usually remove this change, since the only thing I like to have my .profile file a source line to my .bashrc file. However, I ensure that /usr/local/bin is place ahead /usr/bin in my $PATH string.

  • Now I set up the ties to the aforementioned local site-packages directory: 

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    pushd /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python2.5/site-packages
echo /Users/your-username/python/site-packages > my.pth
popd

MySQL

  • Lines 4, 5, and 6 below are a quick hack around an odd bug in the installer. 

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    curl -O http://mirror.services.wisc.edu/mysql/Downloads/MySQL-5.0/mysql-5.0.51b-osx10.5-x86.dmg
open mysql-5.0.51b-osx10.5-x86.dmg
open /Volumes/mysql-5.0.51b-osx10.5-x86/mysql-5.0.51b-osx10.5-x86.pkg/
pushd /usr/local/mysql/lib
sudo ln -s /usr/local/mysql/lib mysql
popd

  • Add the preference pane to your System Preferences and start the server from the preference pane (I also prefer to select Automatically Start MySQL Server on Startup): 

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    open /Volumes/mysql-5.0.51b-osx10.5-x86/MySQL.prefPane/
hdiutil unmount /Volumes/mysql-5.0.51b-osx10.5-x86/

  • To setup a sample database to use with a Django project, here are the commands I issue from within the mysql shell: 

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    CREATE DATABASE spam_db 
  CHARACTER SET utf8 
        COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON spam_db.* 
                     TO 'spam_db_user'@'localhost' 
          IDENTIFIED BY 'spam_db_password';



MySQLdb


    
 
  • MySQLdb provides the Python bindings to interface with the database.

    

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    curl -O http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mysql-python/MySQL-python-1.2.2.tar.gz
tar -xvzf MySQL-python-1.2.2.tar.gz 
cd MySQL-python-1.2.2

    

    
 
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  • Edit the site.cfg file:

    

      
 
    • Uncomment the line that begins #mysql_config =

      
 
      • 
 
    • Edit the path to point to /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config:

      

      mysql_config = /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

      
 
      • 

    
 
    • 
 
  • Complete the build and installation:

    

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    python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

    
 
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PIL


The Python Imaging Library adds image 
   processing capabilities and supports many file formats. Probably on of the most
   common applications I use it for are resizing and cropping images, and generating
   thumbnail images. This installation seems to cause many people grief, particularly
   JPEG handling (which is an optional install that depends upon libjpeg).



    
 
  • freetype (optional) - a software font engine

    

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    curl -O http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/freetype/freetype-2.3.6.tar.gz
tar -xvzf freetype-2.3.6.tar.gz
cd freetype-2.3.6
./configure
make
sudo make install
cd ..

    

    
 
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  • libjpeg

    

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    curl -O http://www.ijg.org/files/jpegsrc.v6b.tar.gz
tar -xvzf jpegsrc.v6b.tar.gz
cd jpeg-6b
./configure
make
make test
sudo make install-lib
cd ..

    

    
 
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  • PIL build

    

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    curl -O http://effbot.org/media/downloads/Imaging-1.1.6.tar.gz
tar -xvzf Imaging-1.1.6.tar.gz
cd Imaging-1.1.6
python setup.py build_ext -i

    

    Checking for the following lines near the end of the output from the 
   previous command:

    

    --- TKINTER support ok
--- JPEG support ok
--- ZLIB (PNG/ZIP) support ok
--- FREETYPE2 support ok

    

    Complet install and perform a last sanity check:

    

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    python selftest.py
sudo python setup.py install
python -c "import Image; Image.open('Images/lena.jpg').show()"
cd ..

    

    You should see a Preview window pop up with the picure of a woman wearing a hat.

    
 
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Common Packages


    
 
  • IPython - An enhanced Python shell. You will want it - and be lost without it 
   very quickly. Django will look for IPython when you run the shell command
   extension.

    

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    curl -O http://ipython.scipy.org/dist/ipython-0.8.4.tar.gz
tar -xvzf ipython-0.8.4.tar.gz
cd ipython-0.8.4
python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install
python setup.py install_scripts --install-dir=/usr/local/bin
cd ..

    

    
 
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  • docutils

    

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    curl -O http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/docutils/docutils-0.5.tar.gz
tar -xvzf docutils-0.5.tar.gz 
cd docutils-0.5
python setup.py install
sudo cp tools/buildhtml.py tools/rst2html.py /usr/local/bin
cd ..

    

    
 
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  • Markdown

    

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    curl -O http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/python-markdown/markdown-1.7.tar.gz
tar -xvzf markdown-1.7.tar.gz 
cd markdown-1.7
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

    
 
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Django


Installation of Django, using either Apache with mod_python, mod_wsgi,  or
   FastCGI has been written about in numerous locations. However, here is my
   personal strategy for managing Django across various revisions:



    
 
  • First, I set up a directory to store the revisions of Django that I need across
   the sites I manage:

    

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    mkdir ~/python/django
pushd ~/python/django

    

    
 
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  • Next, I have two helper scripts I use to manage my revisions:

    

    A revision "getter" called djget:

    

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    #!/bin/bash
svn export -r $1 http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk $1
pushd $1/docs
buildhtml.py --local
mkdir html
mv *.html html
popd

    

    Run djget to export your desired revisions (why not just to stick
   to one revision? I manage a few sites and not all are on the same
   revision. Also, I like to play around with the trunk tip on my local
   machine first before deploying it live).

    

    Example: 

    

    djget 7728

    

    This will export the desired revision into a  directory named for the 
   revision number (7728, in this case). It also generates HTML files 
   from the reStructuredText documentation and moves those files into a new 
   html directory

    

    A revision switcher called switch:

    

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    #!/bin/bash
if [ -e django ]; then rm django; fi
if [ -e html ]; then rm html; fi
ln -s $1/django
ln -s $1/docs/html

    

    Example: 

    

    switch 7728

    

    This deletes existing symlinks to another revision and recreates them accordingly.

    
 
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  • I add the html symlinked directory to my Bookmarks Bar in Safari

    
 
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  • Finally, I symlink the django symlink in my local site-packages:

    

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    pushd ~/python/site-pacakges
ln -s ~/python/django/django
popd

    

    
 
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Optional packages


    
 
  • extensions - a repository for collecting global custom management 
   extensions for the Django Framework. As a contributor to the repository, I
   would be remiss I neglected to mention it.

    

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    curl -O http://django-command-extensions.googlecode.com/files/django-command-extensions-0.3.tgz
tar -xvzf django-command-extensions-0.3.tgz
cd django-command-extensions-0.3
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

    - or -

    

    An example of how I use symlinks in my local site-packages to handle scenarios
   where I am frequently updating packages:

    

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    svn co http://django-command-extensions.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ django-command-extensions
pushd ~/python/site-packages/
ln -s ~/python/install/django-command-extensions/extensions
popd

    

    To use in your projects, just add 'extensions' to your INSTALLED_APPS settings.py file 
   (details).

    
 
    • 
 
  • Pygments - a generic syntax highlighter for general use in all kinds of 
   software such as forum systems, wikis or other applications that need to 
   prettify source code

    

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    curl -O http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/P/Pygments/Pygments-0.10.tar.gz
tar -xvzf Pygments-0.10.tar.gz 
cd Pygments-0.10
sudo python setup.py  install
cd ..

    

    
 
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  • mdx_codehilite - markdown code highlighting extension can be installed 
   as well (requires Pygments):

    

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    curl -o mdx_codehilite-0.2.tar.gz \
http://gitorious.org/projects/python-markdown-extra/repos/codehilite/\
archive/f30802583958c9f54e8b4390d8dafa8dd4a147fa.tar.gz
tar -xvzf mdx_codehilite-0.2.tar.gz 
cp -v python-markdown-extra-codehilite/mdx_codehilite.py \
    /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python2.5/site-packages

    

    mdx_codehilite is used to added syntax highlighting markup to this blog

    
 
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  • dateutil - provides powerful extensions to the standard datetime module

    

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    curl -O http://labix.org/download/python-dateutil/python-dateutil-1.4.tar.bz2
tar -xvjf python-dateutil-1.4.tar.bz2 
cd python-dateutil-1.4
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

      
    

    
 
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  • path - provides a class (path) for working with files and directories (less 
   typing than os.path)

    

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    curl -O http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/path.py/path-2.2.zip
unzip path-2.2.zip 
cd path-2.2
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

    I've used the path package for years, but many people are adopting 
   Unipath

    
 
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  • twill - a scripting system for automating Web browsing. Useful for testing 
   Web pages or grabbing data from password-protected sites automatically.

    

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    curl -O http://darcs.idyll.org/~t/projects/twill-0.9.tar.gz
tar -xvzf twill-0.9.tar.gz 
cd twill-0.9
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

    
 
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  • feedparser - Parse RSS and Atom feeds in Python

    

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    curl -O http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/F/FeedParser/feedparser-4.1.tar.gz
tar -xvzf feedparser-4.1.tar.gz 
cd feedparser-4.1
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

    

    
 
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Miscellany


    
 
  • Here are a few aliases I have set in my ~/.bashrc file for developing on Leopard:

    

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    #!/bin/bash
# System helpers
# Flush DNS - after making changes to your `/etc/hosts` file:
alias flushdns='dscacheutil -flushcache'
# List of open ports
alias ports='sudo lsof -i -P'
# Python helpers:
alias site-packages='cd /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/'
alias pyclean='find . -name "*.pyc" -exec rm {} \;'
# Django helpers:
alias runserver='python manage.py runserver'
alias runserver0='python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8888'
alias djshell='python manage.py shell'
# TextMate helpers:
export SVN_EDITOR="mate -w"
export EDITOR="mate -w"

    

    
 
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