General comments:
I was a bit concerned when Steve first posted his plans for the Windows
installer and making a web installer forcing re-downloads for every
install, and expressed those privately. I'm no longer concerned, this
outlined scheme is good, but I have some suggestions to make it great :)
With these other options available, if the web installer can do the
/layout, especially from a checkbox, I'd almost be tempted to agree that
the 20MB installers wouldn't be needed.
But here's another idea: automatically keep all the .msi and .cab files
used for the first installation of Python with it in the directory from
which it runs (naming convention... prefix them all with
python-3.5.0a1.<stuff>.(msi|cab) It is very likely that a reinstall
will use the same components (if more are needed on a later install, add
them to the directory also). And a good naming convention makes it
obvious what to delete when done with the installer.
And a related idea: on the first install page, have a check box
"download all installation components", that would do that, even if they
are not used, and even if either of the one-click installs are chosen.
And a related idea: for custom installs, record the choices made in a
metadata file in that same directory, and after the first install,
subsequent installs could have a 3rd single-click install: same custom
install as last time. This would be kept in the directory with the
installer, so could be applied to a zillion machines, and an install
option /ditto would allow those choices from the command line. That way,
the administrator could use the friendly interface to install the first
machine, making the appropriate choices, and then just run
"python-3.5.0a1.exe /ditto" on all the other zillion-1 machines, without
needing to learn any other obscure command line parameters. I don't care
how you spell /ditto, as long as there is documentation.
Regarding /layout, to me, that name has no mnemonic meaning of "download
all these installation components and save them". Documentation could
provide that, of course, but choosing a name like /download might be
nicer. Saving to the same directory as the installer lives in seems
easier than needing to specify a directory... the documentation can warn
that users of the option should put the web installer in the desired,
shared or private, installation directory prior to running the option...
On 1/3/2015 4:16 PM, Antoine Pitrou wrote:
One comment: I would find it a bit confusing if the default install
path changes when using the customized install. OTOH, maybe you can't
choose another default there.
This could be cured by defaulting to either the new or old install
location, or to a blank box, and having a couple buttons to "set install
location to C:\Python35" or "set install location to "C:\Program
Files....", as well as the browse button and the option to type into the
box.
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