Dropping support for Win9x
I'd like to remove support for Windows 9x (95, 98(SE), ME) soon from the Python trunk. This would primarily affect all wide-string APIs (which would be considered present unconditionally), as well as certain "new" Win32 functions; in this cleanup, I would also drop support for NT+ before Windows 2000 (i.e. NT 3.1, 3.5(1), 4.0). I'm not sure whether w9xpopen should be left in place; Tim suggested it should, however, I don't see why (something with alternative command line interpreters IIRC). The 2.5 installer already gives a warning on W9x that this will be the last release. If you object to this plan, please speak up. Regards, Martin
Martin v. Löwis wrote:
I'd like to remove support for Windows 9x (95, 98(SE), ME) soon from the Python trunk. This would primarily affect all wide-string APIs (which would be considered present unconditionally), as well as certain "new" Win32 functions; in this cleanup, I would also drop support for NT+ before Windows 2000 (i.e. NT 3.1, 3.5(1), 4.0).
I'm not sure whether w9xpopen should be left in place; Tim suggested it should, however, I don't see why (something with alternative command line interpreters IIRC).
I'm not entirely sure, but I think that w9xpopen gets used when it looks like the shell (as per %ComSpec%) is command.com rather than cmd.exe. My understanding is that a Win9x machine *upgraded* (rather than a clean re-install) to Win2k or XP will retain command.com as the %ComSpec% setting. If so, that *might* be sufficient reason to keep w9xpopen around. I don't have a strong opinion though: I'm all for dropping win9x support and would be happy with either a doc note that users need to ensure they aren't using command.com, or a warning in the installer if this is detected. Trent -- Trent Mick trentm at activestate.com
participants (2)
-
"Martin v. Löwis" -
Trent Mick