[Python-Dev] What is "installed"?

[Thomas Heller]

David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com> writes:

> This will sound like a heap of complaint, but there really is a point
> (at the end)...
>
> As someone who needs to build Python from sources (often CVS sources)
> on Win32, and sometimes even modify them, I have often been frustrated
> by the fact that many tools seem to think Python isn't "installed"
> unless I've run some installer.
>
> For example I think distutils still expects files such as pyconfig.h
> to be copied from my Python sources' PC/ subdirectory into its
> include/ subdirectory, which is annoying because it's a modification
> to my source tree that isn't performed automatically by the build
> process; when I update I don't want to have to remember to move files
> around manually.  When developing Python extensions I just add the
> appropriate subdirectory (PC/ on Win32) to my #include path so I don't
> have to worry about this stuff.
>
> Now I'm getting stopped by a related problem: I need to install LEO,
> and it thinks there's no Python installed on my system, even though
> there's a perfectly good usable 'python.exe' in my path.  Is it
> looking for something in my registry?  I have no clue.
>
> So how do Python developers deal with these issues?  Is there a
> smoother way?  Am I making life difficult for myself?

Does this help?

http://effbot.org/zone/python-register.htm

Thomas