[New-bugs-announce] [issue4485] fast swap of "default" Windows python versions

[Glenn Linderman]

New submission from Glenn Linderman <v+python at g.nevcal.com>:

Here's how I set up my computer, for multiple versions.  Now to change
the "default", I just use the assoc command to change the association
for .py to one of the three listed ftypes.  Simple and quick.

c:\>ftype Python25.File
ftype Python25.File
Python25.File="C:\Python25\python.exe" "%1" %*

c:\>ftype Python26.File
ftype Python26.File
Python26.File="C:\Python26\python.exe" "%1" %*

c:\>ftype Python30.File
ftype Python30.File
Python30.File="C:\Python30\python.exe" "%1" %*

c:\>assoc .py
assoc .py
.py=Python25.File


It would be nice if the ftypes were version specific as created by the
installer; IIRC, I created the above three from the ftype Python.File as
I installed each version. 

The Python.File could still be created by default, and could still
reflect the last temporally installed version of Python... but by
documenting the version specific ftypes, the user could still switch
among versions.

I suppose there is a question of if the version should contain two or
three parts, i.e. Python253.File; and if the version should be separated
such as Python2.5.3.File; the above worked for me for the moment, but
some thought might reveal a more useful technique.

It might even be appropriate for a Python version to create 3 ftypes,
such that version N.M.O creates ftypes named PythonN.File,
PythonN.M.File, and PythonN.M.O.File.  All but the most specific one
would be subject to change when additional versions are installed.  If M
or O are zero, they should probably still be specified (as zero) in a
scheme like this, so that there would be a solid way of referring to all
the specific versions.

----------
components: Installation
messages: 76731
nosy: v+python
severity: normal
status: open
title: fast swap of "default" Windows python versions
type: feature request
versions: Python 2.6, Python 3.0

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue4485>
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