[python-win32] Feature request for Python's msi

[Mark Hammond]

> I couldn't really tell which list to post this to. This
> looked closest. Let
> me know if it should go elsewhere.

It should be added as a feature request in the main Python bug collector
(ie, at sourceforge).  There would be far far more chance of it getting done
if you also provide a patch to the MSI generation process - most people
involved in this are very short of time, and are likely to consider this non
critical.

> I'd like a feature to be added to Python's windows installer.
> I want it to
> set up two environment variables for me. It should:
>
> 1. Append %PythonInstallDir%\Scripts to the system PATH.

I guess this could make sense if the main Python directory is put into
sys.path.  Having multiple Python versions installed could make this
confusing

> 2. Append .PY to the system PATHEXT.

This makes sense, but also may be confusing with multiple versions.

I guess the correct thing to do would be to ask the user if they do actually
want these things to happen - most users would be happy to have them
continue to not happen, judging from the small number of feature requests.

> That way, if I install some tool that happens to have been written in
> python, I can use it on the command line as
>
> C:\somewhere\> foo arg arg
>
> , rather than as:
>
> C:\somewhere\> C:\Python24\Scripts\foo.py arg arg

In your real cases, who provided "foo.py"?  If it was not installed with
Python itself (ie, is a script you provided), then it may be better to add
these scripts to a completely different directory, and ensure that directory
is on your PATH.  I can't think of any Python supplied scripts which are so
useful they should be on the PATH, so I suspect you would have an uphill
battle getting that one accepted.

Mark