Differences between MacPython 2.4.1 and Universal Python 2.4.2:

• /ApplicationsMacPython-2.4 is now /Applications/Python 2.4

• PythonIDE, /PackageManager are gone. These applications have been deprecated for quite a long time, and depend on WASTE, which is somewhat non-free and is not available for x86.

• select.poll and related constants exist on systems that have a correct poll implementation (definitely 10.4.4).
• pythonw is now an executable that does an execv (instead of a script), so it may be used in #!scripts
• All extensions and the framework are built universal for ppc and i386
• The MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET defaults to 10.3, and extensions are built such that they will probably be compatible with 10.3.9+
• Versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.3.9 are not supported with this build

Unfinished differences between MacPython 2.4.1 and Universal Python 2.4.2:

• The Python HTML documentation is now in Python.framework/Versions/2.4/Doc/html, which IDLE knows about.

• The python in the bin directory is now also pythonw, so pythonw is only necessary for legacy purposes.

• The installer places the framework's bin directory on the PATH for normal shells

Patches in Universal Python 2.4.2 vs Python 2.4.2 source trees:

• select.poll brokenness detection is moved from configure time to runtime
• CONFIGURE_MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET is now MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
• distribution scripts have been rewritten in python rather than a hodgepodge of makefiles

• /PythonLauncher is built without xcode/pbxbuild