Re: Gtk on MAC OS X

[John Cupitt <jcupitt gmail com>]

On 2/11/06, Calvin Ellis <kyndig gmail com> wrote:
> My question to the gtk developers is what would be the best approach as to
> distributing software on the MAC platform that requires gtk?

I do this by creating a myapp.app directory in my home area, then
installing my program, gtk and prerequisites with

  ./configure --prefix=/Users/me/myapp.app/Contents/Resources/myapp

I have a wrapper script in myapp.app/Contents/MacOS called myapp which
sets a bunch of environment variables and then runs the binary in
myapp.app/Contents/Resources/myapp/bin/myapp. You can give the program
an icon, control how it interacts with filetypes and the finder, etc.
etc. by creating Info.plist, an XML file in myapp.app/Contents.

You can then package the myapp.app directory tree inside a .dmg and
users can install by mounting the disc image and then dragging the
icon. They will have to have X11 installed first ... it's an optional
package on Apple's install CDs. The wrapper script will start X11 if
it's not already running.

You're welcome to steal any boilerplate you need (like the wrapper
script, or the Info.plist). My program can be downloaded here:

  http://www.vips.ecs.soton.ac.uk/

Of course if you make any improvements I'd be interested to hear. I
last did a mac binary in the pre-cairo days, so I'm sure there are
some more environment variables to set.

John