[Tutor] Verifying My Troublesome Linkage Claim between Python and Win7

[Wayne Watson]

On 2/27/2010 5:24 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Hello Wayne,
>
> I sympathise with your problem, but please understand you are not making
> it easy for us when you give us incoherent information.
>    
I hope the coherency has improved  recently. :-)  I think if you saw the 
cramped quarters I'm in that you might understand my supposed 
incoherency.  For what it's worth, and that's about zero, I'm working 
with my old XP and W7 machine's keyboards, mice and monitors 
side-by-side. I have several times found my self using the wrong device. 
I'm steadily moving from programs and data from one to another.  This 
weekend when I get a printer cable, the XP machine will be relegated to  
a distant table.
> You tell us to "try this" and give a folder structure:
>
> Folder1
>      track1.py
>      data1.txt
>      data2.txt
>      data3.txt
> Folder2
>      track1.py
>      dset1.txt
>      dset2.txt
>      ...
>      dset8.txt
>
> but then when you send a copy of the actual code you are running, it is
> called "ReportingToolAwww.py" and it is 417 lines long. What happened
> to track1.py? What is in that? Does track1.py reproduce the fault?
>    
Yes, it's a lot easier  to type track than the above. I invented 
fictitious names for the above to simplify it all.  The program does 
indeed work on track data for meteor trails.
> There are five possible faults:
>
> 1  A problem in your Python code.
> 2  A serious bug in Python itself.
> 3  A serious bug in Windows file system.
> 4  Disk corruption making Windows confused.
> 5  A PEBCAK problem.
>    
I'd vote for  a W7 problem. I think I mentioned that W7 will not even 
allow me to find all files in a folder  with track in  them. It's 
possible the new filter concept for  files is at work.
> I can confirm that ReportingToolAwww.py doesn't seem to contain
> any "funny" path manipulations that would cause the problem: it simply
> calls open on relative path names, which will open files in the current
> directory. The problem does NOT appear to be in your Python code.
>    
Good.
> A serious bug in either Python or Windows is very unlikely. Not
> impossible, but unless somebody else reports that they too have seen
> the fault, we can dismiss them.
>    
See above about W7.
> Disk corruption is possible. If all else fails, you can run the Windows
> disk utility to see if it finds anything.
>    
Beats me.
> But the most likely cause of the fault is that you aren't running what
> you think you are running. When you say:
>
> "If I've created a shortcut, it wasn't by design. Ctrl-c to ctrl-v most
> likely."
>
> "Most likely"? Meaning you're not sure?
>    
Meaning I agree with you that it was not  a use  of ctrl-c/v. I offered 
the other only possibilities I know  of. That's for programs likeWord.
> Given that you are talking about the Properties window talking
> about "pointing to" things, I think it is very likely that in fact you
> have created a shortcut, or a symlink, and when you think you are
> running a copy in Folder2 you are actually running a shortcut to
> Folder1. That would *exactly* explain the problem you are experiencing.
>
> Please take a screenshot of the Properties window showing the "pointing
> to" stuff. I think you will find that track1.py in Folder2 is a
> shortcut back to track1.py in Folder1.
>    
OK, I'll do that with SnagIt, and attach it. If it's too big, it will 
not make it on the list, but will make it to you.Geeze, I can't even do 
that. I had contacted HP tech support (1 year of free support), and went 
through this with a tech guy week ago. I gave him control of the 
machine, and he started messing with the py file.I  stopped him before 
he changed anything, but copied the file somewhere, and renamed it, so 
he  could do what he thought needed to be done. The "link" points to 
itself. I'm afraid after a week  of dealing with this the trail is dead. 
Chalk it up to a mistake on my part if you will. I'm done.

If somehow this magically revives  itself in the next few days, I'll  
respond.  It's time to move this program ahead to completion.
> (For the record, Windows does in fact have symlinks, as well as hard
> links and a third type of link called junction points. They are
> undersupported by Explorer, and so people hardly every use them. Most
> people don't even know they exist, even though some of them go back all
> the way to Windows NT. But as far as I can tell, there is no way for
> you to have created a symlink from Explorer.)
>
>    
So noted. The last time I had anything to do with the more esoteric 
links  is a decade ago when I worked with Linux.


-- 
             "There is nothing so annoying as to have two people
              talking when you're busy interrupting." -- Mark Twain