How to install wxPython

Contents

How to install wxPython

Install Python

You should have already done that. Refer to the Python website to have some more information. ( BUILD.unix is probably the helpfile you are looking for )

Windows

Installation under windows is especially simple: Run the installer you can get from wxPython and follow the instructions.

Linux - Redhat

You can find RPMs for Redhat (they are working just fine with Mandrake through), at the address wxPython

Linux - Debian

wxPython can be installed through apt-get by calling apt-get install python-wxgtk2.4 or apt-get install python-wxgtk2.6, depending on which version you want. The wxPython demo is in the wx-examples package. Install it with apt-get install wx2.4-examples or apt-get install wx2.6-examples. Once it is installed, you need to copy /usr/share/doc/wx2.[4|6]-examples/examples/wxPython to a directory which you can edit. You then need to unzip each compressed file. You can do it with a script such as this one:

for i in *.gz; do
    gunzip $i
done

You can then run the demo by typing python demo.py.

Linux - Gentoo

wxPython can be installed through portage by calling emerge wxPython (notice the capital P). The correct command is actually emerge wxpython (without a capital p) as of 11/28/04.

Linux - Building from the source

You might also want to build wxPython from the source. You have to do this in three steps:

Installing wxGTK

wxGTK is the GTK version of wxWidgets. GTK (Gimp ToolKit) is a graphic library used by Gnome, so it is probably already installed on your Linux box. All you have to do is download the wxGTK source from the wxGTK ftp server. Or the wxWidgets website

Untar wxGTK by type the command:
```
tar -xvzf wxGTK-2.2.5.tar.gz
```
Go into the directory:
```
cd wxGTK-2.2.5
```
Run the configure script:
```
./configure --with-gtk
```

You might get some errors here if GTK is not installed or if the include files for GTK are not installed (in a Mandrake distribution, gtk+-devel-1.2.8-6mdk.i586.rpm is the rpm that you want to install)

Run the make file:
```
make
```
- You might get some errors here if yacc or lex are not installed. (in a Mandrake distribution, the right rpms are byacc-1.9-7mdk.i586.rpm and flex-2.5.4a-13mdk.i586.rpm)

You should now have a compiled version of wxGTK. We want to install it and link it into the system.

Become superuser:
```
su
```

Your root password is required here.

Install wxGTK:
```
make install
```
Link the library:
```
ldconfig
```
Exit from superuser mode:
```
exit
```
Normally, wxGTK is installed but there might be a problem with wxPython:

it is possible that the library is not installed where wxPython is looking for it. ( In a mandrake 7.2 distribution, you want wxGTK to be installed in /usr/lib whereas it is automatically installed in /usr/local/lib) The solution is to create a symbolic link of the library where you want it to be:

Go in to the directory where you want the library to be installed:
```
cd /usr/lib
```
Create a symbolic link to the library:
```
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libwx_gtk.so
```

Installing wxPython

Download the source code of the last wxPython release:

wxPython website

Untar the tarball:
```
tar -xvzf wxPython-2.2.5.tar.gz
```
go into the directory:
```
cd wxPython-2.2.5
```

Edit the setup.py to choose what you want to install. I suggest that you don't install OGL and GL_CANVAS. by selecting:

BUILD_GLCANVAS = 0 # If true, build the contrib/glcanvas extension module
BUILD_OGL = 0      # If true, build the contrib/ogl extension module
BUILD_STC = 1      # If true, build the contrib/stc extension module
CORE_ONLY = 0      # if true, don't build any of the above
GL_ONLY = 0        # Only used when making the -gl RPM.  See the "b" script
                   # for the ugly details
USE_SWIG = 0       # Should we actually execute SWIG, or just use the
                   # files already in the distribution?
IN_CVS_TREE = 0    # Set to true if building in a full wxWidgets CVS
                   # tree, otherwise will assume all needed files are
                   # available in the wxPython source distribution

Build the python module:
```
python setup.py build
```
Become root:
```
su
```

Your root password is required here.

Install the module:
```
python setup.py install
```
Exit root mode:
```
exit
```

Check if the module works:

 [lucas@b007 wxPython-2.2.5]$ python
Python 1.5.2 (#1, Sep 30 2000, 18:08:36)  [GCC 2.95.3 19991030 (prerelease)] on linux-i386
Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam
>>> import wx
>>>

wxPython is fully installed!

Mac OS X

An installer is available on the wxPython site, for both PPC and Intel Macs.

If you wish to build it yourself, you should follow the instruction described here.

A french howto can be found here