Zim is an amazing app (see my demo). Unfortunately, there is not yet a simple click-and-install option. Instead, installation requires use of the terminal.
Current as of 2019-01-03, MacOS Mojave.
Zim 0.69.1 and homebrew
- download and install Xcode from App Store (optional: minimal install)
- open terminal and install homebrew package manager by pasting the following
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
- install python2 and package tools if necessary
brew install python@2 /usr/local/bin/python2 -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel virtualenv
- install GTK+ if necessary
brew install gtk-mac-integration pygobject gtk+ pygtk libffi brew install wget --with-libressl
- get source of latest Zim
mkdir ~/bin; pushd ~/bin; wget http://zim-wiki.org/downloads/zim-0.69.1.tar.gz tar xvfz zim-0.69.1.tar.gz rm zim-0.69.1.tar.gz
- setup virtualenv
pushd zim-0.69.1 /usr/local/bin/python2 -m virtualenv --system-site-packages --python=python2 env pip2 install pyenchant pyxdg pip2 install pygtkspellcheck
- use Zim
source ~/bin/zim-0.69.1/env/bin/activate python2 ~/bin/zim-0.69.1/zim.py deactive
- set your preferred browser by alt-clicking on a link and configuring
/usr/bin/open -a "/Applications/Google Chrome.app"
- increase font size in ~/.config/zim/style.conf
[TextView] font=Arial 17
Creating an Zim.app file
I don't bother creating a Zim.app, but Romain Schmitt recommends the following.
- Run Platypus and edit the profile as follows:
App Name : Zip Script Type : bash Script Path: ...
- For Script Path, select New and then paste:
#!/bin/bash /usr/local/Cellar/python@2/2.7.15_2/bin/python2 ../Resources/zim-0.69/zim.py
- Click Save
- For Bundled Files, click + and then select the path where zim-0.69.1 is located. If you follow this tutorial, it will be in ~/bin/zim-0.69.1.
- You can also select an icon for the zim.app; make the sure the three options box on the right are unchecked.
- Click Create App, then save it to the folder Applications.
- Quit Platypus.
Virtualenv after python upgrade
After a python version upgrade, your virtualenv symlinks may no longer work. If so, try this in your zim directory to delete the symlinks and recreate them.
find ~/bin/zim-0.69.1/ -type l -delete /usr/local/bin/python2 -m virtualenv --system-site-packages --python=python2 env