[Python-Dev] Python Launcher for Windows (PEP 397) needs testing!

[Vinay Sajip]

Paul Moore <p.f.moore <at> gmail.com> writes:

> In that case, some points:
> 
> 1. A "silent by default" installer like this is not very usual in the
> Windows world, I'd have expected a confirmation dialog at least. For
> silent installs, msiexec /silent is available.

Agreed, a "success" message is probably a good idea for the standalone launcher.
The installer is a bit tentative because (a) the PEP is still
under discussion, and (b) I don't know exactly how launcher installation
will work as part of Python installation. 
 
> 2. I thought the idea from the PEP was to put py.exe/pyw.exe into a
> "system" location which is already on the PATH (likely
> windows\system32, or whatever the 64-bit equivalent is). That way, py
> or py -3 and similar can be used to launch the interactive
> interpreter.

This can always be changed in the installer - the PEP says install in System32
"if possible", and I'm not yet sure of all the security/permissions implications
of that. The current location should be usable for test purposes, even if you
have to manually add to the path for now.

> 3. Given that you're not installing in system32, you should add the
> install dir to PATH (and remove it on uninstall ) That's definitely
> a second-best option, though, so I'd rather you didn't, but installed
> in system32 instead 

I'll look at changing the installer builds to do this.

> 4. If you embed both of the py.ico and pyc.ico files into the launcher
> exes, you wouldn't need to have them as separate files (I see py.ico
> is embedded already) and so the footprint becomes 2 exes and an ini
> file. That might be a bit more palatable for people who are
> uncomfortable with installing into somewhere like system32.
> 
> Otherwise it looks great.
> 

Thanks for the feedback. Please log any implementation-related issues on the
BitBucket tracker.

Regards,

Vinay Sajip