[Python-Dev] Python and Windows 2000

[Neil Hodgson]

Martin v. Löwis:

> See http://bugs.python.org/issue6926
>
> The SDK currently hides symbolic constants from us that people are
> asking for.

   Setting the version to 0x501 (XP) doesn't actively try to stop
running on version 0x500 (2K), it just reveals the symbols and APIs
from 0x501. Including a call to an 0x501-specific API will then fail
at load.

    IPPROTO_IPV6 (the cause of issue 6926) isn't a new symbol that
started working in Windows XP - it was present in older SDKs without a
version guard so was visible when compiling for any version of
Windows.

> In addition, we could simplify the code in dl_nt.c around
> GetCurrentActCtx and friends, by linking to these functions directly.

   It would be simpler but its not as if this code needs any changes
at this point.

   I don't really have a strong need for Windows 2000 although I keep
an instance for checking compatibility of my code and I do still get
queries from people using old versions of Windows, including 9x. There
is the question of whether to force failure on Windows 2000 or just
remove it from the list of known-working platforms while still
allowing it to run.

   Neil