IIUC, the test suite is about having the Python installer certified as "OEM Ready", which means a few special things - including, IIUC, the "right" to be installed in a new PC. My broader point is that I would advise against any application vendor reusing the standard Python installer for their application, as it exposes the ability for the user to remove it, thereby breaking the application.
Right, and I agree with it. However, that is HP's choice, and while there is a theoretical possibility that users break their systems, in practice, most users are too scared to actually attempt such breakage. However, "OEM ready" sounds like a good goal to achieve. Python has been shipping as part of the operating system on Linux for many years now, and ships with Solaris and OSX for several years now. I see nothing wrong with Python being preinstalled on PCs. If this approach would become standard practice, py2exe and friends would become much simpler (and I do know that I'm dreaming now).
Obviously I'm wrong here though - HP obviously *is* wanting to install it as is, and doesn't mind that the user could accidently break their scripts. I'm very surprised by that, but I have to accept it :) On the other hand, I'd really like to ensure they understand the risks and for me to understand why those risks are acceptable...
See above. I think the risk is theoretical. In any case, applications *can* make sure pythonxy.dll survives uninstallation (by increasing its refcount), although this probably doesn't help much if the standard library is gone.
Agreed. I'm just surprised app authors are willing to take the risk this implies. I still occasionally get email from people (presumably via my email addy which used to be in Pythonwin) saying "I've got this Python thing installed on my PC - is it a virus? Can I remove it?". I tend to say "it’s a programming language - if you don't know you need it, you probably don't, so sure, uninstall it".
We get these messages on python-help also. We even have http://www.python.org/doc/faq/installed/ so it *is* a frequently-asked question. I think that is a good thing. Regards, Martin