[Spambayes] 64-bit findings

[Steven Bentley]

Regarding the current 64 bit issues, I find:

1. Microsoft Outlook does not come in a 64 bit version.  Microsoft has announced a 64 bit version for upcoming Office 2010, but for now it's 32 bit.
2. I run Vista 64 bit business edition, and find Office in the 32 bit program directory.  I am also running Spambayes 1.0.4 in this environment with no ill effects.  So, I conclude that Spambayes works fine in a 64 bit environment.  No, I haven't moved "up" to Windows 7 yet, and cannot testify that it will work fine.  However when I do, if it won't work under Windows 7 64 bit, the Windows 7 64 bit is broken, and will be replaced.
3. The Windows install is an "all in one" package.  As a Windoz n00b, I find myself incapable of doing any more than " next-next-next-finish".  If Ocean hasn't obtained the download from http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/, then he/she should do so.  It has everything you need in one package.  I would pick the Vista version for a Win 7 installation.

Steven Bentley, Windoz n00b
------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:38:21 -0600
From: skip at pobox.com
To: "Ocean" <Ocean at cobaltnight.com>
Cc: spambayes at python.org
Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
Message-ID: <19234.40877.502392.51437 at montanaro.dyndns.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


    Ocean> You misunderstand.  If he's successfully running it with Windows
    Ocean> 7 - 32 bit, you can't say that SpamBayes definitively works with
    Ocean> Windows 7, because you don't know if it works on the 64 bit
    Ocean> version.  You have to know it works fine on both before you can
    Ocean> make a unilateral declaration like that.

I don't use Windows, however...

If he's installing a released version of SpamBayes (1.0.4 or 1.1.a4) he
should be getting a Python interpreter as part of the installer.  To the
best of my knowledge neither Mark, Tim, Tony nor anybody else who ever
released a SpamBayes-on-Windows installer ever bundled a 64-bit version of
the interpreter with it.  If a 32-bit interpreter will work on a 64-bit
machine you're home free.  If not, then it would have bombed if he was
running 64-bit Windows 7.  I conclude that either he was running on a 32-bit
version of Win7 or a 32-bit version of the Python interpreter will work on a
64-bit version of Win7.  (Can someone with more knowledge of Windows than me
-- that is, with *any* knowledge of Windows -- confirm or deny this
conclusion?)  As far as I know there is nothing specific to 32- or 64-bit
architectures in the SpamBayes source code itself.  All 32- or 64-bit
dependencies would be in the binary code of the Python executable.

Skip


------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:46:32 -0500
From: "Ocean" <Ocean at cobaltnight.com>
To: <spambayes at python.org>
Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
Message-ID: <004801ca7a9a$a3b9de60$eb2d9b20$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"


> -----Original Message-----
> From: skip at pobox.com [mailto:skip at pobox.com]
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 2:38 PM
> To: Ocean
> Cc: spambayes at python.org
> Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
> 
> 
> I don't use Windows, however...
> 
> If he's installing a released version of SpamBayes (1.0.4 or 1.1.a4) he
> should be getting a Python interpreter as part of the installer.  To the
> best of my knowledge neither Mark, Tim, Tony nor anybody else who ever
> released a SpamBayes-on-Windows installer ever bundled a 64-bit version of
> the interpreter with it.  If a 32-bit interpreter will work on a 64-bit
> machine you're home free.  If not, then it would have bombed if he was
> running 64-bit Windows 7.  I conclude that either he was running on a
32-bit
> version of Win7 or a 32-bit version of the Python interpreter will work on
a
> 64-bit version of Win7.  (Can someone with more knowledge of Windows than
me
> -- that is, with *any* knowledge of Windows -- confirm or deny this
> conclusion?)  As far as I know there is nothing specific to 32- or 64-bit
> architectures in the SpamBayes source code itself.  All 32- or 64-bit
> dependencies would be in the binary code of the Python executable.
> 
> Skip


	If I remember correctly, the interpreter is not included with the
Windows installer.  It has to be downloaded seperately.  In any case, if he
was using Windows 7 - 32 bit, you still can't deduce that SpamBayes would
work fine on the 64 bit O/S.

	That aside, while I don't know if the source code has to be
specifically coded for 64 bit, I do know that the PyWin32 is a 32 bit set of
extensions, and there is not a 64 bit version currently available.  Whether
it will still work or not is another piece of the puzzle.

	Regardless, Windows 7 compatibility is not something that can be
assumed until we know it can function properly (including the Outlook
plugin) in the 64 bit version of the O/S.




------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:35:11 +0100 (CET)
From: "Amedee Van Gasse (be)" <amedee at amedee.be>
To: spambayes at python.org
Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
Message-ID: <b20896ac433cd432d5b7ba984d8979b1.squirrel at amedee.be>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

On Fri, December 11, 2009 20:46, Ocean wrote:

> 	If I remember correctly, the interpreter is not included with the
> Windows installer.  It has to be downloaded seperately.

I'm sorry but you remember wrong. There is no separate download needed for
Windows. Really. It's all next-next-next-finish for the 'doze n00bs, if I
may be so condescending.

I agree with Skip: either windows 32bit binaries will work on Windows
64bit, or it will cough and die horribly.
Knowing Windows and its history of backwards combatability, the former is
more likely. Windows is a screwed up operating system, but at least it
screws up consistently.


So far nobody has reported problems with Windows 7 64bit, so I have no
reason to assume that it won't work.

I can test it myself, with Outlook 2007 on Windows 7 64bit, but you will
either have to wait until july '10 until my schedule allows me enough
spare time, or pay my hourly rate. And I don't want to promote paid
software testing for free software. That would be rather silly. ;-)


A better solution would be to ditch Windows and switch to Linux. I'm on
64bit Linux for more than 5 years now, and I never had any problems with
Spambayes.

-- 
Amedee Van Gasse



------------------------------

Message: 10
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:58:30 +1100
From: Mark Hammond <skippy.hammond at gmail.com>
To: Ocean <Ocean at cobaltnight.com>
Cc: spambayes at python.org
Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
Message-ID: <4B2314E6.7030901 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

On 12/12/2009 6:46 AM, Ocean wrote:
> 	That aside, while I don't know if the source code has to be
> specifically coded for 64 bit, I do know that the PyWin32 is a 32 bit set of
> extensions, and there is not a 64 bit version currently available.

That is incorrect - a 64bit build of pywin32 for python 2.6 has been 
available for many months.

> 	Regardless, Windows 7 compatibility is not something that can be
> assumed until we know it can function properly (including the Outlook
> plugin) in the 64 bit version of the O/S.

Running on a 64bit operating system isn't actually relevant - what is 
relevant is the "bittedness" of the application.  The only problem will 
be trying to run spambayes in a 64bit version of Outlook (which can only 
happen on a 64bit OS) - all other uses of spambayes will work fine with 
the 32bit version of Spambayes on all 64bit windows versions.  Is there 
a 64bit version of Outlook even available?

Mark


------------------------------

Message: 11
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:05:47 -0500
From: "Ocean" <Ocean at cobaltnight.com>
To: <spambayes at python.org>
Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
Message-ID: <006201ca7ae8$c42152c0$4c63f840$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"


> -----Original Message-----
> From: spambayes-bounces+ocean=cobaltnight.com at python.org
[mailto:spambayes-
> bounces+ocean=cobaltnight.com at python.org] On Behalf Of Amedee Van Gasse
(be)
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 8:35 PM
> To: spambayes at python.org
> Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Windows 7
> 
> On Fri, December 11, 2009 20:46, Ocean wrote:
> 
> > 	If I remember correctly, the interpreter is not included with the
> > Windows installer.  It has to be downloaded seperately.
> 
> I'm sorry but you remember wrong. There is no separate download needed for
> Windows. Really. It's all next-next-next-finish for the 'doze n00bs, if I
> may be so condescending.
> 


	I had to download Python and PyWin32 seperately, install them
seperately, and then run the outlook add-in installer from the Spambayes
directories.  There was no integrated installation for me.