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Release 1.2.0
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@mhucka mhucka released this 24 Oct 20:23
· 53 commits to main since this release
v1.2.0
ae21648

See sections further below for instructions about the binary/ready-to-run copies of Zowie.

All changes in this release

  • Add new -s option. Please see the section on special-case behavior for an explanation.
  • Fix issue #9: version incompatibility with Sidetrack version 2.0 package.
  • Use lazy imports of Python packages for faster application startup.
  • Add script to create zipapp version of Zowie.
  • Overhaul Makefile.
  • Update versions of all Python packages dependencies, and make requirements.txt pin the exact version of the packages used at release time.
  • Update LICENSE file, which had the wrong license text!

Self-contained runnable programs

There are two variants of Zowie in its ready-to-run form, suitable for different versions of macOS.

macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and later

The first variant of a runnable Zowie program needs a Python interpreter version 3.8 or higher on your computer. Happily, that's the case for macOS 10.15 and later. To be sure, first check the version of the program python3 that you get by running the following command in a terminal and inspecting the results:

python3 --version

(Note: if this is the first time you've run python3 on your system, macOS will ask if you want to install certain additional software components. Let it do so.)

Next,

  1. In the files attached to this release, look for a ZIP file with a name that contains your version of Python
  2. Click on that ZIP file to download it
  3. Unzip the file (if your browser did not automatically unzip it for you)
  4. Open the folder thus created (it will have a name like zowie-1.2.0-macos-python3.8)
  5. Look inside for zowie and move it to a location where you put other command-line programs (such as /usr/local/bin).

If you want to put it in /usr/local/bin but that folder does not exist on your computer yet, you can create it by opening a terminal window and running the following command (prior to moving zowie into /usr/local/bin):

sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin

The following is an example command that you can type in a terminal to move Zowie there:

sudo mv zowie /usr/local/bin

Note: the first time you run this variant, Zowie will take longer than usual to start because it does a one-time configuration step, but on subsequent runs, startup times should be shorter.

macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and earlier

Another other variant of the runnable Zowie app is available for macOS before 10.15, for which Apple did not provide Python version 3. This copy of Zowie works like any normal command-line program and does not require Python. (However, it does not run on macOS Catalina or later due to Apple security issues.)

  1. Look for the file named zowie.zip in the files attached to this release
  2. Click on zowie.zip to download it
  3. Unzip the file; this will leave you with a file named zowie, which is the program itself
  4. Move zowie to a folder where you put other command-line programs (e.g. /usr/local/bin)

If you want to put it in /usr/local/bin but that folder does not exist on your computer yet, you can create it by opening a terminal window and running the following command (prior to moving zowie into /usr/local/bin):

sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin

The following is an example command that you can type in a terminal to move Zowie there:

sudo mv zowie /usr/local/bin

Additional notes

  • The first variant of the app described above (with file names like zowie-1.2.0-macos-python3.8) will also run on macOS 10.14 and probably 10.13, but only if you install your own copy of Python version 3.8 or later. Experienced Python users may want to try this, because this variant of Zowie starts much faster than the second variant described above.

  • The first time you run one of the first variants, Zowie will take longer than usual to start because it does a one-time configuration step, but on subsequent runs, startup times should be shorter.

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