ActivePython 2.1 (build 210)

[Mark Hadfield]

From: "Paul Prescod" paulp at ActiveState.com

> We are pleased to announce ActivePython 2.1 (build 210), a distribution
> of Python 2.1.

I have avoided ActivePython distributions in the past, but when I read the
list of packages available with this one I decided to give it a go.

I was somewhat discombobulated when I read this in the Release Notes:

"Do not install ActivePython to a directory with a space in the name. This
causes problems on some variants of Windows with some service pack levels.
We have not yet been able to compile a comprehensive list."

I mean, really! If it doesn't fit in "C:\Program Files" then it doesn't fit
in my life! I expect to better than this for the money I paid. (Wait...you
say I didn't pay anything...Doh.)

But I decided to ignore this and soldier on. And I can report that it seems
to work when installed under "C:\Program Files" on Windows 2000 (SP1) once
one has fixed one or two elementary mistakes made by the installer. And the
most glaring of these is this--the following string is added to the front of
the system executable path:

"C:\Program Files\Python\Python21\";

The quotes are not required and should not be added. (The trailing backslash
doesn't add much either. And why all applications think that they deserve to
be at the *front* of my path I cannot imagine.)

Also, there are a few shortcuts around the place that are lacking quotes
around file names. And likely as not a few registry entries but I haven't
looked thoroughly. But these rough edges will never be ironed out if you
chicken out and tell people not to install to a directory with a space in
the name.

---
Mark Hadfield
m.hadfield at niwa.cri.nz  http://katipo.niwa.cri.nz/~hadfield
National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research



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