[vtkusers] VTK and Python on OS X El Capitan

[Eric Nodwell]

I don't think Apple has been entirely consistent here. For example, I
am 99.999% sure that the operating system never needs to use scipy,
but they have included that in the system python for a couple of
versions now. Furthermore, they link it against their Accelerate
Framework, which is wicked fast - and it is very far from trivial to
compile scipy with the Accerelate Framework if you want to do it
yourself, so it is tempting to use theirs for sure. I think there is
an inherent conflict between "look what we can do" on the one hand and
system integrity, stability and security on the other hand. I think
the hammer has come down definitively on the side of integrity,
stability and security. I don't think it is the wrong decision. We in
"application land" can just lump it and figure out how to provide the
functionality we need ourselves. :)

Eric


On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 9:18 PM, Matthew Brett <matthew.brett at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 12:08 PM, Sturla Molden <sturla.molden at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Ben Boeckel <ben.boeckel at kitware.com> wrote:
>>
>>> So Apple has crippled their Python (e.g., how do you use your own NumPy
>>> with the system Python now if you can't load it?).
>>
>> The system Python is reserved for the operating system. You shouldn't mess
>> with it or even use it, particularly not install packages into it. To
>> maintain the integrity of te operating system, it is important that only
>> Apple change it through system updates. Apple has not ceipped their Python,
>> they have made sure that users stop modifying a vital component in their
>> operating systems.
>>
>> If you want Python, install your own, e.g. from Python.org, Anaconda or
>> Enthought. Then you can do whatever you want with it.
>
> Yes, I believe the standard advice is here :
> https://github.com/MacPython/wiki/wiki/Which-Python
>
> Matthew
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