Glen wrote: > So let's say that the .zip file was dropped onto the Desktop or start > menu. It would have an icon, then.
It would have an icon. But nothing to identify it as a python application. One problem is that in many places, users are trained specifically under windows to *never* run anything in a zip file. As it might contain a virus and "bring down the whole company network". That is not a culture that a lot of people want to "undo" >> But having a __main__.py file in a zip file is hardly a clear >> and obvious way (to outside people) that it is a python >> application. > > So let's further say that the .zip file was named .py, instead, but was > a .zip internally. > > That would seem to go a long ways toward making the facility user > friendly, at least on Windows, which is where your complaint about icons > was based, and the only change to Python would be to recognize that if a > .py contains a .zip signature, then process it the same way as this > mysterious, not mentioned in the What's New .zip execution facility. That is perfectly true to say that. It is *very* clever. So it begs the question then, why not use that as a form of application packaging? The only one downside (from an opinion perspective) is having an external distribution format, like .egg, does make it easier to see that the application is not yet installed. >> Double click them and they get filed in the right place. >> > > What platform files things in the right place when you double click them? Windows and Linux do. When you double click an application installer. They will go away and start the appropriate application installer. I am refering to files like .msi's or .rpm's respectively. But overall, I think this discussion is going in the right direction. I hope Tarek can pick up on it and fnd a way to work it into distutils if he has time as it does need to have a home to live. David _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
