Issue 2922: "No windows home dir" doc error (original) (raw)

Issue2922

Created on 2008-05-19 21:29 by python@johnburnett.com, last changed 2022-04-11 14:56 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Messages (3)
msg67079 - (view)	Author: John Burnett (python@johnburnett.com)	Date: 2008-05-19 21:29
http://docs.python.org/inst/alt-install-windows.html The above says "Windows has no concept of a user's home directory, and since the standard Python installation under Windows is simpler than under Unix, the --prefix option has traditionally been used to install additional packages in separate locations on Windows." However, any modern Windows OS does have that concept (i.e. see the %USERPROFILE% env variable). Not sure how to best change the above, but...
msg67106 - (view)	Author: Martin v. Löwis (loewis) *	Date: 2008-05-20 06:20
The problem is that any modern Windows does not just have a single home directory for a user, but many of them. For example, there are the HOMEDRIVE, HOMESHARE, and HOMEPATH variables, which may or may not be set. In the light of these, I would argue that USERPROFILE is *not* the user's "home" directory - it is the user's "profile" directory. So I think that the text is practically correct as it stands.
msg89042 - (view)	Author: R. David Murray (r.david.murray) *	Date: 2009-06-07 15:16
Closing as 'works for me' since the OP hasn't responded with any counter argument to Martin's assertion and it's been open for more than a year.