For Python 2.7.x and 3.x, PSF practice is to build two installer variants
for each release.
-Beginning with Python 2.7.8, we plan to drop binary installer support for
+Beginning with Python 2.7.9, we plan to drop binary installer support for
Mac OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.x systems. To ease the transition, for Python 2.7.7
-only there will be three installers provided:
+and 2.7.8 there were three installers provided:
1. DEPRECATED - 32-bit-only, i386 and PPC universal, capable on running on all
machines supported by Mac OS X 10.3.9 through (at least) 10.9::
* ``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
+ * bootstrap non-framework Python 2.7 for documentation build with
+ Sphinx (as of 2.7.9)
- alternate build environments:
* ``MacOSX10.5`` SDK
* ``MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.5``
* Apple ``gcc-4.2``
- * system Python 2.5+ for documentation build with Sphinx
+ * bootstrap non-framework Python 2.7 for documentation build with
+ Sphinx (as of 2.7.9)
- alternate build environments:
* ``MacOSX10.6`` SDK
* ``MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.6``
* Apple ``gcc-4.2``
- * system Python 2.6 for documentation build with Sphinx
+ * bootstrap non-framework Python 2.7 for documentation build with
+ Sphinx (as of 2.7.9)
- alternate build environments:
interfere with the build.
* The documentation for the release is built using Sphinx
- because it is included in the installer.
+ because it is included in the installer. For 2.7.x up to and including
+ 2.7.8, the ``Doc/Makefile`` used ``svn`` to download repos of
+ ``Sphinx`` and its dependencies. Beginning with 2.7.9, 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 2.7.9 or later installer on OS X 10.5 using the Apple-supplied
+ Python 2.5.
* It is safest to start each variant build with an empty source directory
populated with a fresh copy of the untarred source.