Tom Plunket wrote: > vbgunz wrote: > > Some if not most python documentation assumes Python is on the path... > > Really? I must live in different places in the docs, but I can't recall > encountering any such documentation.
I have posted a few examples above: "Installing Python Modules" (http://python.org/doc/2.2.3/inst/inst.html) is a key example. 3rd party packages often expect you to type "python setup.py install". Setuptools/easyinstall will give you an 'easy_install' script, but then notes that you have to manually fix up the PATH yourself. > Users who want it in their paths are certainly capable of putting it > there. By that logic, users who want Python are probably capable of unzipping the archive and putting it somewhere semi-suitable. So why provide an installer? If you're going to provide an installer, it should do the whole job, and get Python in a state that is reasonably consistent across all platforms, where practical. Adding to the PATH variable isn't impractical. > I am in the camp that detests apps that automatically install > tons of crap everywhere without prompts. Why use hyperbole here? Is 13 or 14 bytes optionally added to a single environment variable "tons of crap"? And did anybody insist that the installer would have no prompts? > Certainly, though, the > suggestion that one pane in the installer offer to put it in the path > would leave the default as it is today ("don't edit PATH"), though, > right? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to add a new option and > default it to something completely different from the old behavior, does > it? I have no problem with something being configurable, but I do have a problem with Windows users being forced to jump through unnecessary hoops that Unix and MacOS users don't have to endure. And I think the default should be to edit the PATH and allow you to explicitly disallow this: changing from the current behaviour is the right thing to do because the current behaviour is wrong, in terms of cross-platform compatibility and usability. -- Ben Sizer -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list