[Distutils] bdist_innoinst ?!

[Tim Peters]

[Thomas Heller]
> What did change in 2.2a1 compared to 2.1, 2.0, or 1.5.2 (which all seem
> to use Wise5.0)?

Every Python Windows installer ever released used Wise 5.0a.  I never did
figure out "what changed" in 2.2a1, although it *appeared* to be related to
one of {total number of files, total size of files}; e.g., if I left the
docs out, the installer worked fine.  Else it died instantly upon launch
with a GPF in GLBSSTUB.EXE (a Wise file), and Dr Watson always froze solid
while trying to make an after-fault snapshot.  After hours and hours of
thrashing at random, it eventually fixed itself for no identifiable reason
(the last thing I did before it started working again was nuke my entire
PCbuild directory, refetch everything from SourceForge, and rebuild
everything from scratch; best *guess* is that I somehow got a corrupted .wsm
file).

However, since Win2K was released, I've seen a sharp increase in the
frequency of install failure reports.  It still only amounts to a few dozen
total, but the trend is clear, and so is that we have no real handle on most
of the new breed of failures.

> The version of MSVCRT.DLL and MSVCIRT.DLL?

No; I believe they're the same as in 2.1.

> I deinstall and reinstall all of these more or less regularly
> in Win2k Prof (probably SP1) with admin rights without any problems.

Same here.  We appear to be the norm, but others aren't so lucky.

> This is from my recent 2.2a1 installation log:
>
> Version: Following file not copied.
>  File Copy: C:\WINNT\System32\MSVCIRT.DLL
> File Copy: C:\WINNT\System32\MSVCRT.DLL
>
> Does this mean that wise overwrote MSVCRT.DLL, but did _not_ overwrite
> MSVCIRT.DLL?

Your understanding of undocumented English matches mine <wink>:  it thought
your msvcirt.dll was at least as new as the one shipped, but not your
msvcrt.dll.

> Note that I never had to reboot after a Python installation.

My understanding at one point (this stuff is, as I bet you know all too
well, damned hard to track down with confidence!) is that if you tried to
replace any of the DLLs MS cares about, it wouldn't complain on Win2K, but
silently undo it.

Life would sure be simpler if Python installed the MS DLLs it needs under
its own directory.  I'm not enough of a Windows-head to know why that's
impossible, though <wink>.