(original) (raw)

On 7/20/2011 11:35 PM, Mark Hammond wrote: 
Customized Commands:


 The launcher will support the ability to define "Customized Commands" in a
 Windows .ini file (ie, a file which can be parsed by the Windows function
 GetPrivateProfileString). A section called '[commands]' can be created
 with key names defining the virtual command and the value specifying the
 actual command-line to be used for this virtual command.


 For example, if an INI file has the contents:


 [commands]
 vpython=c:\bin\vpython.exe -foo


 Then a shebang line of '#! vpython' in a script named 'doit.py' will
 result in the launcher using the command-line 'c:\bin\vpython.exe -foo
 doit.py'




I experimented, and empirically determined, that a customized
command can be of the form



[commands]

/usr/bin/perl=C:\perl\bin\perl.exe



and that this works to launch Unix perl scripts on Windows
(successfully, if the perl script is actually portable).



This does not contradict the above description, but may be
surprising to some. I think it is a good thing.



Of course, the extra handling of versions, and locating of
corresponding installed versions of things applies only to Python,
but some may find uses for launching non-Python programs. This also
would work for python programs using non-CPython implementations
that may not set the registry in the same way. However, because
virtual commands take precedence over Customized Commands, there is
no way to override even a specific virtual command to point at a
Python other than a CPython. (perhaps some serious registry hacking
could make a non-CPython masquerade in the registry as a version of
CPython.)