Compatible with any Python installation

ActivePython is the industry-standard Python distribution, available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Developers worldwide rely on ActivePython's completeness and ease-of-use, while corporate users protect their infrastructure and stay competitive with quality-assured ActivePython Business Solutions.

ActivePython is 100% compatible with the reference distribution of Python. Code tested with ActivePython will run on any Python installation that has the appropriate extensions installed.

Looking for access to older versions of ActivePython or access to platform builds and repositories for Solaris, AIX and HP-UX? Check out ActivePython Business Edition or choose the license that fits your needs here.

Current ActivePython Release

ActivePython 2.6.4.8, 3.1.1.2, and 2.5.4.4

ActiveState is committed to making Python easy to install and use on all major platforms. ActivePython brings you the most stable release of Python in binary form. It also includes up-to-date builds of the popular core extensions, such as OpenSSL, Tkinter and bzip2.

Highlights in ActivePython

Python Package Manager (PyPM)

ActiveState's Python extension installer and manager (PyPM); allows for easy installation and management of modules and extensions.
Wide platform support
ActivePython provides easy-to-use and reliable installers for a wide variety of platforms:
- Windows
- Mac OS X (Universal package)
- Solaris (SPARC and x86) - Available only in ActivePython Business Edtion
- Linux (x86 and x86_64)
- HP-UX - Available only in ActivePython Business Edtion
- AIX - Available only in ActivePython Business Edtion
Python for Windows extensions

ActivePython on Windows (x86) includes the popular PyWin32 extensions that provide bindings to much of the Windows API and to Windows COM.
Up-to-date core extensions

ActivePython includes up-to-date build of all the common core extensions that give Python its "batteries-included" name: zlib and bzip2 for data compression, the SQLite (sqlite3) database libraries, the Tix GUI widgets for Tkinter, ElementTree for XML processing, ctypes (on supported platforms) for low-level library access, the new multiprocessing library in Python 2.6, and others. See "What's Included" in the online documentation for full details.
Rich and complete documentation
In addition to the full core Python documentation, many additional resources are included in ActivePython:
- Andrew Kuchling's full What's New in Python series
- Python's FAQs and How-Tos
- A snapshot of the Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs).
- Mark Pilgrim's "Dive Into Python" book.
- PyWin32 Extensions Reference
Full binary compatibility with core Python

ActivePython is fully binary compatible with python.org Python builds to ensure that 3rd-party binary extensions just work.

Windows Platform Extras

PyWin32 extensions (developed by Mark Hammond):

PythonCOM

Framework for writing COM components in Python and calling COM components from Python
Bindings

Python bindings to the Win32 API, registry, event log, and more
Pythonwin editor

Windows native Python editor

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