[Python-Dev] Python install layout and the PATH on win32 (original) (raw)

VanL van.lindberg at gmail.com
Thu Mar 15 00:15:55 CET 2012

On 3/14/2012 5:39 PM, Mark Hammond wrote:

Can you offer any examples of 3rd party tools which could unify code in this scheme, and particularly, where this scheme would cause them to have less code, not more?

How about virtualenv:

""" def path_locations(home_dir): """Return the path locations for the environment (where libraries are, where scripts go, etc)"""

XXX: We'd use distutils.sysconfig.get_python_inc/lib but its

prefix arg is broken: http://bugs.python.org/issue3386

if sys.platform == 'win32': [snip a bit about spaces in the path....] lib_dir = join(home_dir, 'Lib') inc_dir = join(home_dir, 'Include') bin_dir = join(home_dir, 'Scripts') if is_jython: lib_dir = join(home_dir, 'Lib') inc_dir = join(home_dir, 'Include') bin_dir = join(home_dir, 'bin') elif is_pypy: lib_dir = home_dir inc_dir = join(home_dir, 'include') bin_dir = join(home_dir, 'bin') elif sys.platform != 'win32': lib_dir = join(home_dir, 'lib', py_version) inc_dir = join(home_dir, 'include', py_version + abiflags) bin_dir = join(home_dir, 'bin') return home_dir, lib_dir, inc_dir, bin_dir """

I think you misunderstand the .bat file - there is no python executable in the bin directory. The bat file is locating your already installed Python and attempting to use it.

My only point here is that it would still find the already-installed Python (I think).

My other questions still remain: who specifically will benefit from this, and what would be the cost to those beneficiaries of sticking with the existing scheme?

I will benefit, for one. My use case is that I do cross-platform development and deployment, and I occasionally want to put an entire environment in source control. Currently the case changing and Scripts/bin distinction make this a distinct pain, such that I go in and edit my Windows python installation in the way that I am describing right now.

From my actual experience with this layout, pip, virtualenv, and pypm are the only three major packages that hard-code this logic and would need to be changed slightly.

Thanks, Van

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