[Python-bugs-list] [ python-Bugs-481972 ] Explanation of installation

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Bugs item #481972, was opened at 2001-11-14 21:19
You can respond by visiting: 
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Category: Installation
Group: Feature Request
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Submitted By: David Abrahams (david_abrahams)
Assigned to: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Summary: Explanation of installation

Initial Comment:
Can someone describe for me the relationship between 
the directory structure that comes in the source 
distribution and what I get on my disk when installed 
under Windows?  Some things are not in the same place, 
and I can't make rhyme nor reason of it.

Thanks,
Dave
david.abrahams@rcn.com

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>Comment By: David Abrahams (david_abrahams)
Date: 2001-11-15 15:34

Message:
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The problem goes something like this: Assume I have a nice, 
generalized build system (I do, but not as nice as it will 
be soon ;-)), to which I want to add Python support. I want 
it to be possible to compile/test code against multiple 
Python versions, though that's not too relevant to the 
problem. I'd like finding the neccessary components 
(headers, libs, executables) to be relatively automatic, 
based on, e.g. the user's specification of a python base 
directory and a version number. On Unices it should be 
possible to do without the base directory unless python was 
configured --with-prefix=....

I have to assume that someone developing Python extension 
modules may either be using the source tree, or an 
installation specific to to the platform he's developing 
on. Someone who's just building an extension module is 
probably using a Python installation, but I can't be 
certain.

So, does that clear things up a bit?

-Dave

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Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Date: 2001-11-15 15:15

Message:
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The source distro is just a snapshot of Python's CVS 
development tree, so it's a build tree, not an installation 
tree.  "The std" Windows installation tree is the one 
created by the PythonLabs Windows installer.  Similar 
Windows trees are created by the ActiveState and PythonWare 
Windows installers.  "The std" Unix installation tree is 
whatever the heck "make install" does on Unix (and it's not 
the *build* tree either).  Likewise for Macs, which 
rearrage the build tree in yet other ways for installation.

The relationship between the build tree and the Windows 
installation tree is established by the 3000-line 
python20.wse script in PCbuild, which is input to the Wise 
installer-builder; I can't summarize it usefully here, and 
Windows installation also involves fiddling with registry 
entries.

Afraid I'm still not clear on why you're asking, although 
I'm quite sure I'm not really helping <wink>.

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Comment By: David Abrahams (david_abrahams)
Date: 2001-11-15 04:12

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Hi Tim,

Usually I install using the windows installer, and 
eventually need to get the source so I download it 
elsewhere; then I usually need the "_d" version so I build 
that from the source. The two "installations" seem 
different to me, and I'm not certain of all the ways in 
which they differ. Just for example, when I build on 
Windows, the executable(s) end up in the PCBuild 
subdirectory. Is there a standard for how a Windows 
installation should look?

Why do I care? I've been making a build/test install 
system, which needs to link with/invoke python.

Thanks,
Dave


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Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one)
Date: 2001-11-14 21:39

Message:
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David, I'm not clear on what "installed" means to you.  Are 
you building from source yourself, or using the PythonLabs 
Windows installer?  If the latter, the Windows distribution 
is a precompiled distribution of a subset of the source 
tree, plus a number of precompiled "external" packages 
(like bsddb, zlib, expat, and Tcl/Tk).  The Python source 
distro is pruned on Windows to reflect that a vast majority 
of our Windows users have no compiler, and no interest in 
anything outside of Lib/ and a few of the Tools/ 
directories.

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