python finding mac os build number

Question

How can I find my Mac OS X build number? And if possible, is there a way to find it using Python? I would like to use Python so that I can automatically make OS X .app files in an automated fashion.

EDIT: I see the 'Marked as duplicate' messages, and realize that people think that I mean the Mac OS X VERSION number. I'm talking about the BUILD number.

The bit of information needed in the Info.plist file to create applications called BuildMachineOSBuild, the build number being shown [here](http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1633) — andrew, Sep 03 '14 at 23:32

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '14 at 04:10

Oddly enough, the OS X build number does not seem to be available through the platform module. OS X does provide a sw_vers command which can be used to retrieve the build number through os.popen.

Example:

import os
print(os.popen("sw_vers -buildVersion").read().strip())

Output on OS X 10.9.4 Mavericks:

13E28

Not ideal, but it works!

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 02 '14 at 21:49

1

Try the platform module? It will get you just about everything Python knows about the version of the OS, as well as info about the Python interpreter itself.

https://docs.python.org/2/library/platform.htm

answered Sep 02 '14 at 21:49

William McBrine

2,166
11
7

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

1

See https://stackoverflow.com/a/11697362/871119

A Python version might look like:

import ctypes

libc = ctypes.CDLL("libc.dylib")
size = ctypes.c_uint(256)
buf = ctypes.create_string_buffer(size.value)

if libc.sysctlbyname("kern.osversion", buf, ctypes.byref(size), None, 0) == 0:
    print buf.value
else:
    print "Fails"

Works on the system provided version of Python on my Mac.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

Community

1
1

answered Sep 04 '14 at 12:15

Zorg

978
6
10

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 02 '14 at 23:39

0

To find the current working platform, I would usually use the

sys

module, with a .platform to get this code

    import sys
    sys.platform
'win32'

answered Sep 02 '14 at 23:39

Hanson

193
2
10

python finding mac os build number

4 Answers4