Just helped some people on the Italian Python mailing list find some indispensable tool (Tools/i18n/pygettext.py, in this specific case) and they expressed astonishment that the tool isn't in the standard Windows binary distribution, which was all they had downloaded. This set me to wondering -- is there any reason why this and other tools &c should NOT be included in that binary? Could we add them in 2.2.2 and later releases?

Good idea. I think it was a simple oversight -- adding anything from the Tools directory is not automatic, Tim has to add lines to the Windows installer script. I believe that the following Tools subdirectories are currently being distributed: idle scripts webchecker versioncheck pynche That means these are not: audiopy (Solaris only) bgen (only used by Mac developers AFAIK) compiler (experimental AFAIK) faqwiz (only useful for people running web servers) framer (new in 2.3) freeze (only useful for developers?) i18n modulator (only useful for developers) unicode (only useful for developers?) world Of these, I think i18n and world are candidates for inclusion on the Windows installer. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

[Alex Martelli]

Just helped some people on the Italian Python mailing list find some indispensable tool (Tools/i18n/pygettext.py, in this specific case) and they expressed astonishment that the tool isn't in the standard Windows binary distribution, which was all they had downloaded. This set me to wondering -- is there any reason why this and other tools &c should NOT be included in that binary? Could we add them in 2.2.2 and later releases?

Last time this came up, Guido was opposed to it. The problem is that the majority of Python Windows users aren't particularly clueful, and the Demo and Tools directories are loaded with stuff that's not maintained, not documented, platform-dependent, and may not even work anymore. This all conspires to give it a "developers only" status. Repeated calls for volunteers to clean this up (i.e., document it, fix it, clean out the crap) went unanswered. I've been been known to respond to requests to include specific pieces in the Windows distro, though (for example, IDLE and pynche). This is a PITA because it requires custom WISE scripting for each one, so someone has to convince me they really, really want a piece first.