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Asked: 2026-05-13T10:58:24+00:00

When I run the following from a bash shell on my Mac: $ file

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When I run the following from a bash shell on my Mac:

$ file /usr/bin/python

I get the following three lines:

/usr/bin/python (for architecture x86_64):  Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
/usr/bin/python (for architecture i386):    Mach-O executable i386
/usr/bin/python (for architecture ppc7400): Mach-O executable ppc

this would seem to indicate that Python has been compiled for all three architectures or something like that? I believe, based on some errors I had while trying to setup MySQL, that the version I’m using is the 64-bit version. So two questions:

  1. How would I have known that?

  2. How could I change Python to be 32-bit instead? Something less drastic than re-compile with different compile settings?

  3. Why does arch from a bash shell return i386 which would seem to indicate I’m not in “64-bit mode” when I know based on my processor I’m running a 64-bit Mac?

Sorry these are probably all newbie questions, the whole 32/64-bit thing is frustrating the crap out of me and I’m sure there are some commands/tools that would make this easier.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    1. You can find out a lot about the Python version you’re running via the platform module (the sys module also has a few simple helpers)

    2. On Mac OS X, you can run a “fat binary” with your chosen architecture with, for example,

      arch -i386 /usr/bin/python

    I do not recommend altering /usr/lib/python itself (with the lipo command) — you could easily make your system unusable by tampering with system files. Maybe installing a separate Python from python.org (for application purposes) while leaving the system Python alone is an acceptable strategy to you — it’s definitely safer than altering system files!-)

    As for your third question, hmmm, this one’s a stumper to me — and definitely a question for superuser.com (as well as completely unrelated to Python, it also seems completely unrelated to programming;-).

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