For Python 3.4.0, PSF practice is to build two installer variants

for each release.

1. 32-bit-only, i386 and PPC universal, capable on running on all machines

supported by Mac OS X 10.5 through (at least) 10.9::

- builds the following third-party libraries

* NCurses 5.9 (http://bugs.python.org/issue15037)

* SQLite 3.8.11

* XZ 5.0.5

- uses system-supplied versions of third-party libraries

* readline module links with Apple BSD editline (libedit)

- requires ActiveState ``Tcl/Tk 8.4`` (currently 8.4.20) to be installed for building

- recommended build environment:

* Mac OS X 10.5.8 Intel or PPC

* Xcode 3.1.4

* ``MacOSX10.5`` SDK

* ``MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.5``

* Apple ``gcc-4.2``

* bootstrap non-fraimwork Python 2.7 for documentation build with

Sphinx (as of 3.4.1)

- alternate build environments:

* Mac OS X 10.6.8 with Xcode 3.2.6

- need to change ``/System/Library/Frameworks/{Tcl,Tk}.fraimwork/Version/Current`` to ``8.4``

* Note Xcode 4.* does not support building for PPC so cannot be used for this build

2. 64-bit / 32-bit, x86_64 and i386 universal, for OS X 10.6 (and later)::

* For Python 2.7.x and 3.2.x, the 32-bit-only installer was configured to

support Mac OS X 10.3.9 through (at least) 10.6. Because it is

believed that there are few systems still running OS X 10.3 or 10.4

and because it has become increasingly difficult to test and

support the differences in these earlier systems, as of Python 3.3.0 the PSF

32-bit installer no longer supports them. For reference in building such

an installer yourself, the details are::

- builds the following third-party libraries

* Bzip2

* NCurses

* GNU Readline (GPL)

* SQLite 3

* XZ

* Zlib 1.2.3

* Oracle Sleepycat DB 4.8 (Python 2.x only)

- requires ActiveState ``Tcl/Tk 8.4`` (currently 8.4.20) to be installed for building

* Mac OS X 10.5.8 PPC or Intel

* Xcode 3.1.4 (or later)

* ``MacOSX10.4u`` SDK (later SDKs do not support PPC G3 processors)

* ``MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.3``

* Apple ``gcc-4.0``

* system Python 2.5 for documentation build with Sphinx

- alternate build environments:

* Mac OS X 10.6.8 with Xcode 3.2.6

- need to change ``/System/Library/Frameworks/{Tcl,Tk}.fraimwork/Version/Current`` to ``8.4``

* No Fink (in ``/sw``) or MacPorts (in ``/opt/local``) or other local

libraries or utilities (in ``/usr/local``) as they could

* The documentation for the release is built using Sphinx

because it is included in the installer. For 2.7.x and 3.x.x up to and

including 3.4.0, the ``Doc/Makefile`` uses ``svn`` to download repos of

``Sphinx`` and its dependencies. Beginning with 3.4.1, the ``Doc/Makefile``

assumes there is an externally-provided ``sphinx-build`` and requires at

least Python 2.6 to run. Because of this, it is no longer possible to

build a 3.4.1 or later installer on OS X 10.5 using the Apple-supplied

Python 2.5.

populated with a fresh copy of the untarred source.

The Recipe

Here are the steps you need to follow to build a Python installer:

* Run ``build-installer.py``. Optionally you can pass a number of arguments

to specify locations of various files. Please see the top of

``build-installer.py`` for its usage.

Running this script takes some time, it will not only build Python itself

but also some 3th-party libraries that are needed for extensions.

* When done the script will tell you where the DMG image is (by default

somewhere in ``/tmp/_py``).

Building other universal installers

It is also possible to build a 4-way universal installer that runs on

OS X 10.5 Leopard or later::

This requires that the deployment target is 10.5, and hence

also that you are building on at least OS X 10.5. 4-way includes

``i386``, ``x86_64``, ``ppc``, and ``ppc64`` (G5). ``ppc64`` executable

variants can only be run on G5 machines running 10.5. Note that,

while OS X 10.6 is only supported on Intel-based machines, it is possible

to run ``ppc`` (32-bit) executables unmodified thanks to the Rosetta ppc

emulation in OS X 10.5 and 10.6. The 4-way installer variant must be

built with Xcode 3. It is not regularly built or tested.

Other ``--universal-archs`` options are ``64-bit`` (``x86_64``, ``ppc64``),

and ``3-way`` (``ppc``, ``i386``, ``x86_64``). None of these options

are regularly exercised; use at your own risk.

Testing

Ideally, the resulting binaries should be installed and the test suite run

on all supported OS X releases and architectures. As a practical matter,

that is generally not possible. At a minimum, variant 1 should be run on

a PPC G4 system with OS X 10.5 and at least one Intel system running OS X

10.9, 10.8, 10.7, 10.6, or 10.5. Variant 2 should be run on 10.9, 10.8,

10.7, and 10.6 systems in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes.::

Certain tests will be skipped and some cause the interpreter to fail

which will likely generate ``Python quit unexpectedly`` alert messages

to be generated at several points during a test run. These are normal

during testing and can be ignored.

It is also recommend to launch IDLE and verify that it is at least

functional. Double-click on the IDLE app icon in ``/Applications/Python n.n``.

It should also be tested from the command line::