[Python-Dev] Re: [Patches] PC\config.[hc] changes for Win64 (original) (raw)

M.-A. Lemburg mal@lemburg.com
Tue, 09 May 2000 11:09:40 +0200

Guido van Rossum wrote:

> [Trent] > > What if someone needs to do something in Python code for either Win32 or > > Win64 but not both? Or should this never be necessary (not > > likely). I would > > like Mark H's opinion on this stuff. [Mark] > OK :-) > > I have always thought that it would move to "win64", and the official way > of checking for "Windows" will be sys.platform[:3]=="win". > > In fact, Ive noticed Guido use this idiom (both stand-alone, and as :if > sys.platform[:3] in ["win", "mac"]) > > It will no doubt cause a bit of pain, but IMO it is cleaner... Hmm... I'm not sure I agree. I read in the comments that the WIN32 symbol is defined even on Win64 systems -- to test for Win64, you must test the WIN64 symbol. The two variants are more similar than they are different. While testing sys.platform isn't quite the same thing, I think that the same reasoning goes: a win64 system is everything that a win32 system is, and then some. So I'd vote for leaving sys.platform alone (i.e. "win32" in both cases), and providing another way to test for win64-ness.

Just curious, what's the output of platform.py on Win64 ? (You can download platform.py from my Python Pages.)

-- Marc-Andre Lemburg

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