Commercial Products in Python?

[Mark]

In article <3abb86ee.142862695 at localhost>, Victor Muslin wrote:
>A friend of mine is considering developing a shrink-wrapped commercial
>product. Python seems like a possible choice, but it is not clear
>whether there are any precedents (though probably similar concerns
>apply to a Perl-based product).
>
>I would very much appreciate an advice in this area and possibly
>answers to some of the following questions:
>
>1. Are there any existing shirnk-wrap commercial products written in
>Python?

Hard to say. Most shrink wrap developers don't advertise what language they
code in.

But there's zero reason against using Python for commercial apps. I'd
personally feel more comfortable using Python than say, Java, in a
commercial app. IMHO Python would have fewer deployment issues.

>3. What is the best way to go about it? Is it better to have customers
>install Python and give them bytecode files or use one of the programs
>that creates an executable?

I'd try to compile Python down to an executable. It'd probably make it
easier to deploy.

That's assuming you're targetting Windows.

>4. There is an easy shrink-wrap install for Python (at least on
>Windows NT). Are there such on Unix/Linux platforms? (Typically
>customers don't like having to compile software from source).

Compile Python down to an exe for 'doze and install using Install Shield or
something similar.

That way it looks nice and professional.

For Linux I'd probably pop my program into a .rpm and just list the
dependencies. I'd also create a .deb because I'm a Debian user and shipping
in multiple package dists shows some taste.

>6. Are there any licensing issues to be aware of?

Just pop in a seperate copyright notice somewhere for Python and you should
be covered.

>Anything else that comes to mind in this direction would be very
>helpful.

Yeah, who's your target audience?

If you're expecting John Q Public running Windows 95 to use this, then it
needs to be easy enough for a monkey to install and the install has to look
pretty.

But if you're targeting developers you can get a little more flexible, we
appreciate multiple methods of installing software.

-Mark


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