Installing ViTables on Mac

This page describes my experience on installing ViTables (HDF viewer) on MacOSX 10.4.

There are a number of software and Python libraries need to be install in order to fulfill the prerequisites for ViTables.  At the time of writing, NumPy is still depending on Python 2.5.  This installation guide will hence based on any latest libraries that are compatible with Python 2.5.  Also, don't use the MacOSX system default Python instance to make the installation process easier.

Dependency:

ViTables -> PyTables -> NumPy

                               -> NumArray (optional)

                               -> PyHDF -> HDF4

                               ->H5Py -> HDF5

             -> PyQT4 -> QT4

                            -> Sip

             -> Python
Python 2.5.4 - http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5.4/

Install with the MacOSX universal installer version

NumPy 1.2.1 - http://numpy.scipy.org/*

Install with the MacOSX universal installer version

HDF 4 and 5 - http://cdx.jpl.nasa.gov/documents/accessing-hdf-data-from-python-on-mac-os-x*

Follow above link to install all HDF related dependencies (HDF4, HDF5, pyhdf, h5py, easy install)

QT 4.4.3 - http://kdl.nobugware.com/post/2008/06/05/PyQt-4-on-Mac-Os-X/

Download QT universal installer (binary) from ftp://ftp.trolltech.com/qt/source/qt-mac-opensource-4.4.3.dmg/

Download PyQT4 from Riverbank http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/download

References:

• http://doc.trolltech.com/4.0/install-mac.html

PyTable 2.1 - http://www.pytables.org/docs/manual/index.html

$ python setup.py build --hdf5=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Version/Current

$ python setup.py install --hdf5=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Version/Current

Since HDF5 was installed together with Python (see JPL's instruction), we need to specify hdf5 location explicitly.

cd to parent directory (don't stay in source directory), and test by typing command:

$ python -c "import tables; tables.test()"

py2app - http://svn.pythonmac.org/py2app/py2app/trunk/doc/index.html

$ sudo easy_install -U py2app

This is used to convert python app (eg ViTables) into MacOSX app.

ViTables 2.0 - http://vitables.berlios.de

$ python setup.py install

Run ./macosxapp/make.sh to install as native app (requires py2app, and may have problem under MacOSX 10.4)

VTK 5

http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/Cocoa_VTK

http://www.macresearch.org/installing_vtk_on_mac_os_x

VisTrail (VTK)

http://www.vistrails.org/index.php/Mac_Intel_Instructions\\