[Distutils] RE: [Python-Dev] PEP 250 - site-packages on Windows: (Was: [Distu tils] Package DB: strawman PEP)

Moore, Paul Paul.Moore@atosorigin.com
Thu Jul 12 07:59:03 2001


From: Thomas Heller [mailto:thomas.heller@ion-tof.com]
> The sources are in CVS:
> http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/python/distutils/misc/

Unfortunately, I don't have CVS access...

> The bdist_wininst installer simply installs into prefix,
> this is what the registry has under
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Python\PythonCore\2.1\InstallPath.
>
> Now what should it do?

What does that key *mean*? If it is the directory into which packages should
get installed, then bdist_wininst should keep doing what it does now, and
the Python installer should be changed to put site-packages into that key.

If, on the other hand, this key has a meaning elsewhere in Python, and
changing it would cause a problem, then I would say that this is a bug in
the Windows Installer, which should use a key of its own. In that case, my
recommendation would be to have the Python 2.2 installer create a new key,
and wininst use that if it exists, otherwise fall back to the current key.
That would provide the correct behaviour in the new release, but retain
backward compatibility with earlier versions of Python.

> There are probably some issues here.

Agreed. I apologise if I didn't publicise the PEP in the right places for
these to get picked up earlier - I thought I had. I believe my suggestion
above will do the right thing, but I am not an expert in the intricacies of
Python's use of the registry, so I'd like someone more knowledgeable to
comment, if possible.

Paul.