[matplotlib-devel] Notes on switching backends to qt4 on mac os x

Rob Hetland wrote:

The MPL Qt backend requires PyQt (or, better, Qt4 and PyQt4). PyQt does compile against the Qt Library, and also takes quite a while to complete.

I guess I wasn't clear -- does the MPL QT back-end compile against QT? Or can you just install PyQt after MPL, and have it work?

I'm on a quest to get as complete as possible a MPL binary for OS-X, so I need to know if I need to have PyQt all working to build an MPL binary that supports it.

> PyQt does not use setuptools, and I am not sure how to make a

generally usable binary distribution from it.

Does it build with distutils? If so, then, in theory, you can use bdist_mpkg to build a binary package. bdist_mpkg comes with Py2app.

I say "in theory" because PyQt is pretty complex, so it may not s work out of the box. However, there was some work done a while back adapting py2app to support it, so it just may work. If it doesn't the folks on pythonmac list can probably help.

I would say that installation is quite easy (although time consuming) -- perhaps just a good set of directions on the MPL site?

That would certainly be a start -- though shouldn't such directions be on a QT or MacPython site. The pythonmac Wiki has had troubles lately, I'm afraid, though it seems to be up at the moment:

http://www.pythonmac.org/wiki

-Chris

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