[New-bugs-announce] [issue34977] Release Windows Store app containing Python

[Steve Dower]

New submission from Steve Dower <steve.dower at python.org>:

The Windows Store can now install unrestricted apps, which means we can provide the Python interpreter in there.

Advantages:
* far more reliable installation
* can have specific executables on PATH
* automatic updates
* other apps can act as extensions (with permission), so things like Mu could also become store apps in the future

Disadvantages:
* only --user installs for pip will work
* harder to find/modify installed files

I think for a (very significant) subset of our users, this will be a much better experience than downloading our current installer. It also has the advantage of making "Python" appear in searches in the start menu, which will link directly to a one-click "Install" button.

The biggest issue is likely to be pip not installing with --user by default, as well as subsequent issues with apps that require users to navigate to their %AppData% directories manually (since these will be redirected to different locations).

But until we get a package available for testing, it will be hard to figure out what needs fixing. Given this is just distribution and not a new platform, I plan to enable it for Python 3.7 (probably 3.7.2, but it may be possible to bundle 3.7.1 as-is for testing).

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assignee: steve.dower
components: Windows
messages: 327679
nosy: paul.moore, steve.dower, tim.golden, zach.ware
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Release Windows Store app containing Python
type: enhancement
versions: Python 3.7, Python 3.8

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue34977>
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