Using macports dylibs without macports

Raphael Straub raphael at ira.uka.de
Thu Sep 17 12:15:56 PDT 2009


Travis Griggs wrote:
> I have an application (.app). It makes use of CairoGrahics library  
> (libcairo.dylib) provided by Macports. I have some users though, who  
> are not going to install macports on their systems just so they can  
> use my app. Can I just copy the appropriate dylibs to location of  
> the executable down in the bowels of the .app and have it work  
> correctly?

No, you have to adjust the paths to the libraries in your binary and  
in all dependent libraries, see "man install_name_tool".

> Is there a way to achieve what I want?

There is a script in the python macholib package to achieve what you  
want. Just install the py25-macholib port and use "macho_standalone  
your.app". This will copy all dependent libraries into your.app/ 
Contents/Frameworks (Create this directory before calling  
macho_standalone.) and adjust the install names with  
install_name_tool. As Ryan already said, this is only guaranteed to  
work if all users have the same major Mac OS X version as you.

Regards,
	Raphael



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