Installing wxWidgets and wxPython On Ubuntu Or Debian
There are wxWidgets and wxPython packages in the standard software repositories for Debian and Ubuntu, but they are usually at least a few releases behind the current release, and in some cases many releases behind. Since many users prefer to use only packages installed from repositories (for easier package management) but still would like to have newest versions possible of their installed software, we have our own APT repository that is usually updated within a few days of each release. To use it to be able to keep your wx on the cutting edge release just follow these instructions.
- The packages and the repository meta-data are digitally signed, so you'll need to import the key into your apt's list of trusted keys in order to not get warnings about it.
curl http://apt.wxwidgets.org/key.asc | sudo apt-key add -
Add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Replace the "HTML(<font color=Red>)DISTHTML(</font>)" text with whatever is appropriate for your system. (See the table below for a list of supported distributions and architectures.)
# wxWidgets/wxPython repository at apt.wxwidgets.org deb http://apt.wxwidgets.org/ DIST-wx main deb-src http://apt.wxwidgets.org/ DIST-wx main
For example, if your distro is Ubuntu Gutsy, then you would use the following configuration statements:
# wxWidgets/wxPython repository at apt.wxwidgets.org deb http://apt.wxwidgets.org/ gutsy-wx main deb-src http://apt.wxwidgets.org/ gutsy-wx main
- Run the this command to update your local copy of the package meta-data.
sudo apt-get update
You can now use your favorite package selection tool to install or upgrade the wxWidgets and wxPython packages. Here's how to do it with apt-get:
sudo apt-get install python-wxgtk2.8 python-wxtools python-wxaddons wx2.8-i18n
These packages (and their dependencies) will replace earlier versions of wxPython and wxGTK in the same ReleaseSeries that may have been installed previously.
Supported Distributions and Architectures
There are currently packages in the repository for these Ubuntu releases and architectures:
Release |
HTML(<font color=Red>)DISTHTML(</font>) name |
Architectures |
Python Versions |
Ubuntu 6.06 |
dapper |
i386, amd64 |
2.4 |
Ubuntu 6.10 |
edgy ** |
i386, amd64 |
2.4, 2.5 |
Ubuntu 7.04 |
feisty |
i386, amd64 |
2.4, 2.5 |
Ubuntu 7.10 |
gutsy |
i386, amd64 |
2.4, 2.5 |
Debian 4.0 |
etch |
i386, amd64 |
2.4 |
Notes
- When multiple Python versions are listed in the table above then that means that the wxPython package supports all of the listed versions of Python at the same time. This is accomplished using the pycentral debhelper, so the the wxPython package is only built this way if pycentral is available and if it says that more than one version of Python should be supported.
If you don't see the release or architecture that you need here you can get the source package and build your own set of binary packages. See BuildingDebianPackages for a how-to.
Starting with the 2.8.7.1 release this repository also contains packages for the ansi build of wxWidgets, all with an "-ansi" in their name. See UnicodeBuild for what this means.
** With the addition of the ansi builds in 2.8.7.1 it was decided to drop one of the Ubuntu builds in order to save time and other resources. Although Dapper is the oldest release it is a "Long Term Release" so the wxPython build for it is retained, and the Edgy release has been dropped instead. Previous versions of wx are still in the Edgy repository.
- If you get errors during the package installation stating that the package relies on future versions of libc, libstdc++ etc, then you have likely chosen the wrong distribution (a later one then you actually have)!