[Python-Dev] PEP 250 - site-packages on Windows: (Was: [Distutils] Package DB: strawman PEP)

[Tim Peters]

[Thomas Heller]
> The bdist_wininst installer simply installs into prefix,
> this is what the registry has under
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Python\PythonCore\2.1\InstallPath.
>
> Now what should it do?

[Moore, Paul]
> What does that key *mean*?

Mark Hammond documented it as being the directory into which Python is
installed; python.exe lives here.

> If it is the directory into which packages should get installed,

No; it's much older than the package mechanism <0.1 wink>.

> then bdist_wininst should keep doing what it does now, and the
> Python installer should be changed to put site-packages into that key.

Not its purpose.

> If, on the other hand, this key has a meaning elsewhere in Python,

Not in the PythonLabs distribution, but I expect Mark's Win32 extensions
make use of it.

> and changing it would cause a problem,

IMO, any change to the registry settings requires Mark Hammond's blessing.

> then I would say that this is a bug in the Windows Installer, which
> should use a key of its own.

Couldn't follow that one.

> In that case, my recommendation would be to have the Python 2.2
> installer create a new key and wininst use that if it exists,
> ...

If you have to use the registry, why not paste Lib/site-packages on to the
end of InstallPath and use that?