[Python-ideas] alternative-implementation friendly changes to Python Launcher for Windows

[Paul Moore]

On 23 March 2014 09:31, Vernon D. Cole <vernondcole at gmail.com> wrote:
> A new issue was recently raised on the IronPython group addressing the idea
> of including a copy of the Python Launcher for Windows in the IronPython
> binary distribution.  http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0397/
[...]
>> I propose adding two features to PLW.
>>
>> 1) extend the first command-line switch to also pick items from the py.ini
>> file. I would like to type:
>> py -ipy myprogram.py
>> and have the command associated with "ipy" in my py.ini file executed.
>>
>> 2) PLW should have (in py.ini) a [default] section identifying which
>> command in the [commands] section should be run in the absence of a
>> command-line switch.
>>
>> Alternate implementations should then install (or modify) py.ini to
>> support their interpreter.

I like the idea of extending the version switch.
I don't have a problem with a default command (although I probably
wouldn't use it).

I don't particularly like the idea of implementations modifying py.ini
- that's a user configuration file and should not be modified by the
system. Just document what needs to be added by the user for a
particular implementation.

The standalone version of the launcher is maintained by Vinay Sajip at
https://bitbucket.org/pypa/pylauncher. I'd suggest adding issues to
the tracker there. I don't know how (or if) that version gets folded
back into the one distributed with Python, that's something that maybe
Vinay can comment on.

Paul