[Distutils] bdist_wininst

[Thomas Heller]

MAL wrote:
> > > * the installer install directly into \Python20 -- shouldn't
> > >   it install to \Python20\Lib ? What's the standard here on Windows ?
> > This is the standard on windows. \Python20\Lib is treated as location
> > for modules belonging to core python.
> > Note that this behaviour has one serious consequence:
> > Since the distutils distributed with python are in \python20\lib\distutils,
> > and installing a new version of distutils will install in \python20\distutils,
> > and c:\python20\lib appears in sys.path *before* c:\python20,
> > it requires special actions to actually *use* this newly
> > installed distutils: The user has to delete or renamed or otherwise
> > disable the directory \python20\lib\distutils.
> 
> Hmm, I think we should at least install the packages or
> modules in a special subdir of \Python -- we wouldn't want
> to clutter up the base installation directory with single
> modules or other third packages, or would we ?
IIRC there has been some discussion about this in the archives,
and the current scheme was what Guido wanted.

> 
> > > * the installer doesn't register itself in the Windows Software
> > >   registry -- an uninstall is not possible (this would be *very*
> > >   nice to have)
> > This is something I have in my mind for a long time, but
> > since distutils itself does not care about uninstalling I've never
> > done it. The hooks are all there in wininst: A callback is called
> > for every action taken on the filesystem during installation. It
> > would be easy to write a log file which could be used for uninstallation.
> 
> Would be "nice to have" for 2.1 ;-) A way to set the installer
> background bitmap and the one shown in the install dialog would
> also be nice :)
What's the exact schedule for 2.1?

I have implemented a '--bitmap' option for bdist_wininst,
which allows to replace the 'python powered' bitmap with a custom one.
I'm not yet convinced that we need a way to change the background bitmap
because there isn't any ;-)

Would you like to test it?
Shall I send you a windows installer for this patched distutils version?

I fear the uninstaller would take a little longer...

Thomas