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diff --git a/Mac/Demo/freezing.html b/Mac/Demo/freezing.html index 02556d8..5097b78 100644 --- a/Mac/Demo/freezing.html +++ b/Mac/Demo/freezing.html @@ -4,31 +4,57 @@ </HEAD> <BODY> <H1>Creating standalone applications with Python</H1> -<HR> -With the <EM>macfreeze</EM> script you can <i>freeze</i> a Python -script: create a fullblown Macintosh application that is completely -self-contained. A frozen application is similar to an applet (see <a -href="example2.html">Example 2</a> for information on creating applets), -but where an applet depends on an existing Python installation for its -standard modules and interpreter core, a frozen program does not, -because it incorporates everything in a single binary. This means you -can copy a frozen program to a machine that does not have Python -installed and it will work, which is not true for an applet. <p> - -There are two ways to create a frozen application: through the -CodeWarrior development environment or without any development -environment. The former method is more versatile and may result in -smaller binaries, because you can better customize what is included in -your eventual application. The latter method builds an application by -glueing together the various <em>.slb</em> shared libraries that come -with a binary Python installation into a single file. This method of -freezing, which does not require you to spend money on a development -environment, is unique to MacPython, incidentally, on other platforms -you will always need a C compiler and linker. <p> - -<h2>Common steps</h2> - -The two processes have a number of steps in common. When you start + +With <a href="example2.html#applet">BuildApplet</a> you can build a standalone +Python application that works like +any other Mac application: you can double-click it, run it while the +Python interpreter is running other scripts, drop files on it, etc. It is, however, +still dependent on the whole Python installation on your machine: the PythonCore +engine, the plugin modules and the various Lib folders.<p> + +In some cases you may want to create a true application, for instance because +you want to send it off to people who may not have Python installed on their +machine, or because you the application is important and you do not want changes +in your Python installation like new versions to influence it. + +<H2>The easy way</H2> + +The easiest way to create an application from a Python script is simply by dropping +it on the <code>BuildApplication</code> applet in the main Python folder. +BuildApplication has a similar interface as BuildApplet: you drop a script on +it and it will process it, along with an optional <code>.rsrc</code> file. +It does ask one extra question: whether you want to build your application for +PPC macs only, 68K macs or any Mac.<P> + +What BuildApplication does, however, is very different. It parses your script, +recursively looking for all modules you use, bundles the compiled code for +all these modules in PYC resources, adds the executable machine code for the +PythonCore engine, any dynamically loaded modules you use and a main program, combines +all this into a single file and adds a few preference resources (which you +can inspect with <code>EditPythonPrefs</code>, incidentally) to isolate the +new program from the existing Python installation.<P> + +Usually you do not need to worry about all this, but occasionally you may have +to exercise some control over the process, for instance because your +program imports modules that don't exist (which can happen if your script +is multi-platform and those modules will never be used on the Mac). See +the section on <a href="#directives">directives</a> below for details. +If you get strange error messages about missing modules it may also be worthwhile +to run macfreeze in report mode on your program, see below. +<P> + +<H2>Doing it the hard way</H2> + +With the <EM>macfreeze</EM> script, for which BuildApplication is a simple +wrapper, you can go a step further and create CodeWarrior projects and +sourcefiles which can then be used to build your final application. While +BuildApplication is good enough for 90% of the use cases there are situations +where you need macfreeze itself, mainly if you want to embed your frozen Python +script into an existing C application, or when you need the extra bit of speed: +the resulting application will start up a bit quicker than one generated +with BuildApplication. <p> + +When you start <code>Mac:Tools:macfreeze:macfreeze.py</code> you are asked for the script file, and you can select which type of freeze to do. The first time you should always choose <em>report only</em>, which will produce a @@ -37,6 +63,8 @@ window. Macfreeze actually parses all modules, so it may crash in the process. If it does try again with a higher debug value, this should show you where it crashes. <p> +<h2><a name="directives">Directives</a></h2> + For more elaborate programs you will often see that freeze includes modules you don't need (because they are for a different platform, for instance) or that it cannot find all your modules (because you modify @@ -68,6 +96,9 @@ module name, in which case it is looked up through the normal method. freeze deems the module necessary it will not be included in the application. +<DT> <code>optional</code> +<DD> Include a module if it can be found, but don't complain if it can't. + </DL> There is actually a fourth way that macfreeze can operate: it can be used @@ -96,7 +127,7 @@ location: when you run freeze again it will regenerate the <code>frozenmodules.rsrc</code> file but not the project and bundle files. This is probably what you want: if you modify your python sources you have to re-freeze, but you may have changed the project and bundle -files, so you don't want to regenrate them. <p> +files, so you don't want to regenerate them. <p> An alternative is to leave the build folder where it is, but then you have to adapt the search path in the project. <p> @@ -117,8 +148,5 @@ with the exception that it sets the <code>sys.path</code> initialization to <code>$(APPLICATION)</code> only. This means that all modules will only be looked for in PYC resources in your application. <p> -<h2>Freezing without CodeWarrior</h2> - -This does not work yet. </BODY> </HTML> |