[Python-Dev] PEP 370, open questions

[Paul Moore]

> The best we can hope for is to point to HOMEDRIVE/PATH as
> Paul suggested (*possibly* rewiring os.path.expanduser to
> try that first, depending on Win2K stuff)

os.path.expanduser uses HOMEDRIVE/HOMEPATH. It checks for an explicit
HOME (set manually by the user, this isn't a Windows standard name)
first. (At least in 2.5, see ntpath.py)

I think consistency with os.path.expanduser('~') is a significant benefit.

> and make sure
> the user is aware of what might happen if the HOMEDRIVE/PATH
> is really a pointer to a network-based profile.

Given that os.path.expanduser allows HOME to override
HOMEDRIVE/HOMEPATH, users in this position could set an explicit HOME.

The one downside of following expanduser is that Christian's code is
in C, where ntpath.expanduser is in Python, so there are 2 versions to
keep in sync. Maybe Christian could expose his C implementation, which
ntpath.expanduser could then reuse?

Paul.