[Python-ideas] VT100 style escape codes in Windows

[Joseph Hackman]

Welp! You're definitely correct. Ah well.

On 28 December 2016 at 18:33, Joseph Hackman <josephhackman at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The quick answer is that the MSDN doc indicates support from windows 2000
> onward, with no notes for partial compatability:
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/
> ms686033(v=vs.85).aspx
>
> I'll build a Windows 7 VM to test.
>
> I believe Python 3.6 is only supported on Vista+ and 3.7 would be Windows
> 7+ only?
>
> On 28 December 2016 at 18:06, Paul Moore <p.f.moore at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Would this only apply to recent versions of Windows? (IIRC, the VT100
>> support is Win10 only). If so, I'd be concerned about scripts that
>> worked on *some* Windows versions but not others. And in particular,
>> about scripts written on Unix using raw VT codes rather than using a
>> portable solution like colorama.
>>
>> At the point where we can comfortably assume the majority of users are
>> using a version of Windows that supports VT codes, I'd be OK with it
>> being the default, but until then I'd prefer it were an opt-in option.
>> Paul
>>
>> On 28 December 2016 at 23:00, Joseph Hackman <josephhackman at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Hey All!
>> >
>> > I propose that Windows CPython flip the bit for VT100 support (colors
>> and
>> > whatnot) for the stdout/stderr streams at startup time.
>> >
>> > I believe this behavior is worthwhile because ANSI escape codes are
>> standard
>> > across most of Python's install base, and the alternative for Windows
>> (using
>> > ctypes/win32 to alter the colors) is non-intuitive and well beyond the
>> scope
>> > of most users.
>> >
>> > Under Linux/Mac, the terminal always supports what it can, and it's up
>> to
>> > the application to verify escape codes are supported. Under Windows,
>> > applications (Python) must specifically request that escape codes be
>> > enabled. The flag lasts for the duration of the application, and must be
>> > flipped on every launch. It seems many of the built-in windows commands
>> now
>> > operate in this mode.
>> >
>> > This change would not impede tools that use the win32 APIs for the
>> console
>> > (such as colorama), and is supported in windows 2000 and up.
>> >
>> > The only good alternatives I can see is adding colorized/special output
>> as a
>> > proper python feature that actually checks using the terminal
>> information in
>> > *nix and win32.
>> >
>> > For more info, please see the issue: http://bugs.python.org/issue29059
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Joseph
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>
>
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