Do 2.2 and 2.1.1coexist well?

[Tim Peters]

[Ron Turner]
> Is it safe to install and run both 2.2 and 2.1.1 on the same machine? I
> realize that the directory structures are nicely separated, but I am not
> certain whether there may be DLLs or other files that would cause
> contention or loss of state. We don't seek to launch simultaneous
> sessions. We just need to maintain the two installations, if possible.

You're apparently running on Windows.  Whether it's "safe" depends entirely
on what you do.  For example, due to the way Windows works, file extensions
(like .py and .pyw) can be associated with only one executable, so if you're
relying on stuff like "start program.py" working from a DOS box, it will
pick up whichever version of Python you installed most recently.

I personally never use the registry for anything related to Python
(including file extensions -- I never rely on them), and have at least half
a dozen versions of Python installed on my Windows box.  No problem.

> Related: Does the "Non-Administrative Install" option (under Advanced
> Options in the 2.2 Wise Install Wizard) offer a straightforward way to
> ensure the separation described above? That directs the DLLs to
> be installed within the 2.2's own directory structure.

The Windows Python DLLs for 2.2 and 2.1.1 have different names, so there's
no conflict there.  Depending on user privilege and OS, it may not be
*possible* to install the Python DLL into a system directory, and the
Non-Admin install option is more aimed at that.  Non-Admin install also
writes registry info under HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
which is again partly an issue of privilege, but also on Win2K is a way for
each user on a machine to have their own file associations (a new feature in
Win2K; can't be done under earlier OSes).