[Q] About an Installer Script for PyWin

[Larry Bates]

Mr. Roboto wrote:
> I need PyWin under the covers, that is, to install it as part of an
> application, but in such a way that it isn't visible to users.  I'm
> concerned about a so-called "power-user", seeing the Python directory
> and/or the corresponding entry in the 'Add/Remove Programs' list,
> breaking my app by uninstalling what he/she thinks is removing an
> 'unnecessary program.'
> 
> Unfortunately, I don't see any installer scripts, like for Inno Setup
> or NSIS in the source archive I just downloaded from SourceForge.
> I'd love to volunteer to do something like this for the larger
> community of Pythonista, but I can't find any info (via Google) about
> this.  AFAIK, the critical info is related to the registry settings
> for the Win32-related elements.  I'm especially concerned about
> installation of the COM infrastructure, as getting the other registry
> settings is mostly tedious (but doable), trial-and-error exports from
> the Registry.  The rest "should" be simply a matter of creating the
> primary directory structure and copying the archive files to it.
> 
> Does anyone have pointers ?  TIA....
> 

Use py2exe to convert to .exe and a library.zip file that contains all the
modules.  Then all that gets installed is pythonwinxx.dll.  This also
removes dependencies on a particular version of Python being installed.
Wrap that in an Inno Setup script and you are good to go.  There is an
entry on the Add/Remove Programs list for your program, but not for
Python (as the full runtime isn't ever installed).  Inno Setup can do
all the registry/com stuff that you need.

BTW-Python is now a 'necessary' program on many computers (Compaq/HP) as
some of their management software is written in Python.  So "power-users"
need to be pretty careful removing it these days.

-Larry Bates