Trent Mick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> [Phillip J. Eby wrote]
>> > With Perl and Ruby, for example, scripts from a
>> >3rd party package will be installed next to the main interpreter binary
>> >(i.e. on the PATH) on all platforms. Would having setuptools (and
>> >changing distutils) to install scripts next to python.exe wreak
>> >unwarranted havoc?
>> 
>> Sadly, yes.  First of all, python.exe isn't *on* the PATH on Windows unless 
>> you put it there yourself.
>
> It gets on the PATH with ActivePython <wink>. I'd recommend that the
> python.org Python installer do the same, but I seem to remember MvL (and
> others?) stating their preference not to do so (don't recall why).
>
> In any case, I'd say it is extremely *common* for Windows users to put
> the Python install dir on their PATH -- just as it is common for Windows
> Perl and Ruby users to put the interpreter dir on their PATH. I'd then
> say that the obvious place to put user scripts installed via distutils
> is that same directory.

Well, I don't think so.  It *may* be common for windows users who use
the command line ;-), but I would guess that's a minority anyway.

Even though I *use* the command line, I've never put python.exe on my
PATH.  It's easier to type 'myscript' or 'myscript.py' than 'python
myscript.py' anyway.  Then, I have multiple versions installed on my
machine, and to select between 2.3.5, 2.4.1, and the CVS version I can
always use 'py23 myscript.py', 'py24 myscript.py', 'py myscript.py' and
'py_d myscript.py' - the latter to run it with the debug compiled CVS
version.  I had created batchfiles py23.bat and so on which specify the
directory of the python.exe or python_d.exe files.

And this also explains why I'm still waiting for the extented version of
the '-m' command line option and did not bother to put the
PythonXY\Scripts directory on the PATH - I would loose the ability to
easily switch versions.

Thomas

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