[IPython-dev] A cry for help: I give up with Windows installers

[Fernando Perez]

Hi all,

I'm sorry to say this, but I just give up with getting a Windows installer to 
work.  I borrowed a windows laptop for the evening, with the best of 
intentions.  I should have remembered what my last try to do some development 
under this OS was like...

I've just wasted 6 hours trying to get a trivial script, which WORKS FINE on 
its own (ipython_win_postinstall), not to crash the entire Windows installer. 
  MY script runs to completion, but the controlling installer just dies 
spectacularly at the end (binary crash, not a python exception), leaving a 
mess of incomplete logfiles for deinstallation later.

If I run the same script manually (the way it used to be for windows users), 
it executes just fine.

Under the control of the installer, there are paths which change, but once I 
fix those (so the script completes running), the binary installer just blows 
up at the end.

I've attached a copy here of a hacked version of the post-install script, in 
case any windows guru out there is willing to get this working.  This one has 
the paths fixed so it runs under the control of the binary installer, and it 
logs to a file (since print statements aren't shown).

You can make a binary installer using this post-install script via (using 
python 2.3):

python setup.py bdist_wininst --install-script=ipython_win_post_install.py


Unless someone who has more experience and knowledge than me on Windows can 
help, I'll have to revert to the old method of just shipping .zip files for 
Windows users.  It's incomprehensible to me that doing something so simple 
(copying a few files, making a few shortcuts) should be this difficult.

I think my own time is more productively spent dealing with the parts of 
ipython I can actually make some progress on.  Over the next few weeks (after 
I release 0.6.1) I'll try to get a threaded version of IPython, so that GTK 
programs can be run within ipython (such as matplotlib with the GTK backend). 
  Back to Linux...

Best,

f
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