[Python-Dev] DLL in the system directory on Windows.

[Guido van Rossum]

> Some time ago Tim and I said that the place for a DLL that is 
> intimately tied to an EXE is in the EXE's directory.

But the conclusion seems to be that python1x.dll is not closely tied
to python.exe -- it may be invoked via COM.

> The search path:
>  1) the EXE's directory
>  2) the current directory (useless)
>  3) the system directory
>  4) the Windows directory
>  5) the PATH 
>  
> For a general purpose DLL, that makes the system directory 
> the only sane choice (if modifying PATH was sane, then 
> PATH would be saner, but a SpecTCL will just screw you up).
> 
> Things that go in the system directory should maintain 
> backwards compatibility. For a DLL, that means all the old 
> entry points are still there, in the same order with new ones at 
> the end. For Python, there's no crying need to conform for 
> now, but if (when?) embedding Python becomes ubiquitous, 
> this (or some other scheme) may need to be considered.

Where should I put tk83.dll etc.?  In the Python\DLLs directory, where
_tkinter.pyd also lives?

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)