Platypus 3.0

January 10th, 2005
Author: Sveinbjorn Thordarson (sveinbt@hi.is)

What is Platypus?

Platypus is a powerful development tool for creating application wrappers around scripts, i.e. creating MacOS X applications that execute a script they are bundled with. Scripts can thus be run transparently from the graphical window environment and integrate seamlessly with the user interface.

Platypus is written for the Cocoa Application Programming Interfaces and is free, no-strings-attached open-source software distributed under the terms and conditions of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License which accompanied this document.

Platypus is, at this point, a mature and feature-rich application. I have invested a considerable amount of effort into it over the span of almost two years. That being said, if you find Platypus to be a genuinely useful piece of software I ask you to please consider making a donation to support further feature development, bug fixes and web hosting.

How do I use Platypus?

Using Platypus is simple enough. You type in the name you want to assign to the application in the "App Name" field and then locate the shell script via a navigation dialog by pressing the "Select" button (or alternatively, drag the script or type in the path manually). You can then proceed to create the application by pressing the aptly named "Create" button.

Platypus sports a number of sophisticated features which are adequately explained in the Help Documentation. You can view the Help by opening Platypus and selecting "Platypus Help" from the "Help" menu. The documentation includes step by step tutorials, explanations of advanced features and an example application. Your download should also have included a folder containing some sample scripts. I am always looking for interesting scripts to accompany Platypus as examples, so if you are an accomplished scripter please consider sending me anything you find might fit the bill.

As of version 3.0, Platypus has a command-line counterpart platypus. You install this command line tool with the "Install Command Line Tool" application and uninstall it with the "Uninstall Command Line Tool" application. It is installed in /usr/local/bin/. For more details on this tool, type and execute man platypus in the Terminal.

How does Platypus work?

Platypus creates a MacOS X application (.app) bundle that contains an executable file and the script in question. When a Platypus app is launched, the executable file gets the script interpreter and other settings (authentication requirements, output type etc.) from configuration files in the Resources folder within the bundle and then executes the script according to those parameters by using either NSTask or AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges, depending on whether "Requires Administrator privileges" was checked or not.

Current To Do List:

Version history

13/01/2005 - Version 3.0

29/11/2004 - Version 2.8

16/11/2004 - Version 2.7

11/10/2004 - Version 2.6

23/08/2004 - Version 2.5

11/08/2004 - Version 2.3

03/05/2004 - Version 2.2

27/04/2004 - Version 2.1

17/02/2004 - Version 2.0

21/11/2003 - Version 1.8

17/11/2003 - Version 1.7

14/08/2003 - Version 1.6

29/07/2003 - Version 1.5 released

18/06/2003 - Version 1.4 released

15/06/2003 - Version 1.3 released

13/06/2003 - Version 1.2 released

11/06/2003 - Version 1.1 released

09/06/2003 - Version 1.0 released

Enjoy!

Sveinbjorn Thordarson
http://sveinbjorn.vefsyn.is/software
sveinbtNO@SPAM.hi.is