[Python-Dev] 3.5 release schedule PEP

[Mike Miller]

On 09/24/2014 10:00 PM, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Subject: Re: [Python-Dev] 3.5 release schedule PEP
>
> On 24 Sep 2014 15:15, "Tim Golden" <mail at timgolden.me.uk> wrote:
>  >
>  > On 23/09/2014 18:05, Steve Dower wrote:
>  >> I'm also considering/experimenting with installing into "Program
>  >> Files" by default, but I suspect that isn't going to work out yet.
>  >
>  > I'd like to see that go forward: I think it's increasingly difficult to
> justify Python's position at c:\pythonxx. But it does run the risk of
>  > breaking All The Things.
>
> It might be better to offer that as a supported option in 3.5, and then make it
> the default in 3.6.
>
> That will offer a couple of years to work out the issues, rather than a few months.

Hi all,

ProgramFiles was the default in Python 1.X.

It has been a supported option for just shy of 15 years on 2.X...  most if not 
all the bugs (setuptools) were fixed a decade ago, and right now thousands, if 
not millions of people are running it under Program Files right now.  I can 
vouch for several thousand because a company I work for distributes Python and 
pip there for its customers all around the world w/o issue.

I've never once encountered a bug due to install to ProgramFiles, or heard of 
anyone who has, and have been using Python for everything since the year 2000. 
If any rare bugs happen to surface, they can likely be fixed or replaced with a 
line of code, or worked around by installing elsewhere.

The potential existence of such bugs isn't enough reason to stay stuck in 1990 
while leaving users vulnerable to tampering attacks for another few years.

-Mike