Pyhton 2.3 does not work

[Avner Ben]

"Avner Ben" <avner at skilldesign.com> wrote in message
news:3f504a34$1 at news.012.net.il...
> I need help with Python 2.3 installation in Windows.
>
> I installed Python 2.3 on both my computers (one running Windows XP and
the
> other running Windows 98), after first uninstalling Python 2.2.3. In both
> computers, Python 2.3. keeps looking for "python22.dll" and would not
work.
> This happens when running IDLE and when running python.exe and trying to
> import anything.
>
> I removed all mentions of pyhton22.dll from the registry and repaired it
> (with Registry Mechanic) - no help.
> I looked at PYTHONPATH and it has no mention of python22.
>
> Obviously, there is something left in my configurations that uninstalling
> 2.2.3 would not amend.
>
> The only extensions to Python installed earlier were py2exe and wxPython.
I
> took care to uninstall them first.
>
> Any suggestions what to look for?
>

Ok, I've found the problem, and it may be of interest to some.

The culprit was SET PYTHONPATH command in the autoexec.bat file. Since I
prefer not to put my (bulky) development stuff in the Python distribution
directory, I have used this DOS command - based a long time ago upon the
then current Python documentation - to direct Python to look for import
modules in my development directories as well. This has worked fine for all
Python versions up to and including 2.2.3. But then, with Python 2.3, it
turns out to destroy the contents of sys.path, apparently leading the dll
loader astray.

I guess the current autoexec could be fixed somehow, but, instead, I
followed the current Python documentation's advice to put the additional
module directories in a .pth file in the site-packages directory - and it
works fine. It also looks better!

I would recommend that the Python 23 Windows installer look for the presence
of "SET PYTHONPATH" in the autoexec.bat and, at least, issue a warning!

    Avner.