Python 2.2.1 Idle can't find _sre (Win98)

[Tim Peters]

[Gary Pajer]
> I tried to follow the instructions in http://www.python.org/2.2.1/

What instructions <wink>?

> First I downloaded http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.2.1/UNWISE.EXE
> over my existing unwise.exe

Good move.  The next time you try this, uninstall Python immediately after
this step (that's what unwise.exe is for).  It will only delete files that
it originally installed (so if you have 3rd-party extensions, etc, it will
leave them alone).  If it asks whether you want to do "a rollback", say no
(because you're going to install a newer Python anyway).

I don't know that uninstalling first will actually help, but I never try
installing a new version of anything over an old version of that thing, so I
don't know that it won't help either -- and it might.

> Then I downloaded http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.2.1/Python-2.2.1.exe
>
> Then I started the installer.  It detected c:/python22

Not quite -- it always suggests that directory, even if it doesn't exist, or
even if you have a previous installion in a different directory.

> and offered to install there. I said ok  That means it was installing in
> the same directory as version 2.2 lived.

Right.

> It offered to make backups of existing files, I said yes, please.

That's a good idea too.  If you get utterly sick of Python, the uninstaller
supports a "rollback" mode, which restores everything (within reason) to
what it was before you installed Python.

> That's all.
>
> Since my first post, I noticed that PythonCard applications
> crashed with the same error.  I found a file called _SED.PYD in the new
> installation,

There is no such file.  Do you mean _SRE.PYD?  Even that would be peculiar.
That's the name Wise uses internally for the file, but it should have
changed it to lowercase while installing it.

> but in the backup, the filename was lowercase.  I renamed the file to
> _sed.pyd, and now PythonCard apps start, but IDLE still doesn't.

Again, there is no such file in the distribution.  You could try renaming it
to _sre.pyd, but your system is in such a unique state, if I were you I'd
blow away my Python22 directory and start over from scratch.  Or install
2.2.1 into a different folder.