Python-2.3b1.exe install error on W98se

[Anton Vredegoor]

Richie Hindle <richie at entrian.com> wrote:

>> Please run this program and show me the output and I will be
>> able to complete Python-2.3b1.exe myself. 
>> [...]
>
>Here you go:

Thanks. I also got this by email, thanks to this sender too! Now I can
make all seven separate downloads of Python-2.3b1.exe result in
identical output by running the following script on them:

def main():
    data = list(file("Python-2.3b1.exe",'rb').read())
    patch = iter(list([chr(int(i)) for i in\
                       file("numbers.txt").read().split()]))
    for i in xrange(15800,16200):   data[i] = patch.next()
    file("python23b1.exe",'wb').write(''.join(data))

if __name__=='__main__':
    main()

However, agreeing with each other, the executables don't yet agree
with the Python-2.3b1.exe at python.org:

import md5

def test():
     fn5  ='Python23b1.exe'
     data = file(fn5,'rb').read()
     d = md5.new(data).hexdigest()
     print d

if __name__=='__main__':
    test()

output is:

8ecce4129dd8ca5a53aa9fa3b6b4b1b9

I guess I could split Python23b1.exe in halves and ask questions here
about the respective expected md5 hexdigests of the halves and use a
kind of bisect algorithm to locate the erroneous parts :-)

Anton

ps1. my modem is a simulation of a modem, a so called "software modem"
or winmodem, on an audio modem riser card. If I knew more details I
could write my own modem in Python. The strange thing is that it is a
very good simulation of a modem, I (almost?) never have problems with
downloading files, it seems to have problems *only* with
Python-2.3b1.exe 

ps2. I successfully downloaded Python-2.3b1.tgz and compiled it under
cygwin, so the question is, although still interesting as an exercise,
becoming a little academic: Scite, my main Python editor, can run
cygwin Python just as well as windows Python.