[Python-Dev] Why does the Windows installer use the shortname formof the install directory?

[Tim Peters]

[Moore, Paul]
> ...
> That's fair enough. And it's not major enough that I'm pushing
> for anyone to waste time on it. I just thought I'd mention it in
> case it was a simple change to a checkbox, or something.

It *almost* is a checkbox!  In WISE's idea of "a scripting language", the
relevant line looks like this:

   Set Variable MAINDIR to %MAINDIR%

There's not a visible clue that this isn't a no-op.  If you double-click on
the line in the WISE GUI, though, a dialog box pops up, with a dropdown list
labeled "Operation", one of whose entries is

    Convert to short filename

There isn't another variant that adds "but only if it contains a space".

Beyond that, I'm stuck -- since Adobe graciously updated my Acrobat Reader,
every attempt to view the WISE reference docs (pdf format) hard-freezes
(power cycle required) my box.  I *like* your suggestion to skip this unless
there's an embedded space, I just seem unable to do anything about it now
(but it would still be for 2.3 -- mucking with 2.2 is too dangerous).