[Python-Dev] Problem with pydoc script in PEP 405 venvs (original) (raw)

Vinay Sajip vinay_sajip at yahoo.co.uk
Mon Jun 17 18:27:45 CEST 2013

Issue #18224 (http://bugs.python.org/issue18224) highlights a problem on Windows with the pydoc script provided with venvs created by pyvenv. On POSIX, the script is named pydoc and causes no problems: on Windows, it is called pydoc.py and this causes problems because it shadows the stdlib pydoc module.

Possible solutions:

  1. Remove the pydoc script altogether from created venvs, on Windows but also on POSIX (for consistency).
  2. Rename the pydoc script on both Windows and POSIX (e.g. to pydocs.py and pydocs respectively).
  3. Rename the pydoc.py script to pydoc-script.py and introduce a simple .exe launcher pydoc.exe adjacent to it (which is how setuptools and distlib handle installed scripts).

The first two approaches are backwards-incompatible, while the third is less likely to lead to breakage, but involves adding a Windows script launcher to Python. While this is a bigger change, I think any built-in Python installer functionality should include such a launcher (as setuptools and distlib do). Still, that's probably a discussion for another day.

Does anyone have any comments? Approach #2 seems the most appropriate. I assume it would be reasonable to implement this in both 3.3 and 3.4, as it's not a change in core Python APIs.

In the absence of adverse feedback here, I propose to implement approach #2 on both 3.3 and 3.4.

Regards,

Vinay Sajip

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list