[Python-ideas] Possible Enhancement to py Launcher - set default

[Paul Moore]

On 5 February 2018 at 08:10, Steve Barnes <gadgetsteve at live.co.uk> wrote:
> When a new version of python is in alpha/beta it is often desirable to
> have it installed for tests but remain on a previous version for day to
> day use.
>
> However, currently the Windows py launcher defaults to the highest
> version that it finds, which means that unless you are very careful you
> will end up having to explicitly specify your older version every time
> that you start python with it once you have installed the newer version.
>
> I an thinking that it would be relatively simple to expand the current
> launcher functionality to allow the user to set the default version to
> be used.
>
> One possible syntax, echoing the way that versions are displayed with
> the -0 option would be to allow py -n.m* to set and store, either in the
> registry, environment variable or a configuration file, the desired
> default to be invoked by py or pyw.
>
> Personally I thing that this would encourage more people to undertake
> testing of new candidate releases of python.
>
> I would be interested in any feedback on the value that this might add.

There's a `py.ini` file that lets you set the default version. See
https://docs.python.org/3.6/using/windows.html#customization for
details. Is that just something you weren't aware of, or does it not
address the issue you're having?

Paul