Many thanks for the very detailed answer :) I will go ahead right now and implement all your suggestions.
On May 6, 4:35 pm, Scott David Daniels <scott.dani...@acm.org> wrote: > OldGrantonian wrote: > > I use Windows Vista Home Premium. I have Python 2.6 currently > > installed. I'm not a techy. > > > I want to use "virtualenv". When I try to install the latest version > > of virtualenv for Windows, I get the message that Python 2.5 is not > > found. > > > How do I install Python 2.5 (or anything else except 2.6) so that I > > use the correct version of Python at the correct time. > > > For example, do I need to edit the "path" variable each time that I > > want to change versions from 2.5 to 2.6? > > On windows, major versions (..., 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, ...., 3.0, 3.1, ...) > can coexist quite successfully. Find and run an installer for the > latest version of 2.5 (2.5.4, I believe) on the Python download page. > That will make 2.5 your default Python. To switch the easiest way > (for you) is uninstall the version of python you want to be the > default, then install it again (making it the last one installed). > This suggests keeping installer binaries for all version you are > using. Note that the this uninstall-reinstall should not affect > you loaded Python packages that you have installed separately. > To simply run a python program with a different python (but not > change the default), open a command window (run program / cmd), > sometimes called a "terminal window" and use command: > C:\> C:\Python24\python program.py # command line version > or > C:\> C:\Python24\pythonw program.pyw # gui verson > You can also change shortcuts to refer to specific Python versions. > > Of course, the different Python versions should also be available > on your start menu. > > However, Starting with Python 2.6, if you want user-specific > installation, you can also create and put things in (for example), > C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\ > Python\Python26\site-packages > where you replace USER with the user name in question. > > If you are not planning to do a lot of switching, that might be > enough for you. The base directory is also called %APPDATA% on > a command line or via os.path.expandvars. Once you have created > this site-packages directory, Python 2.6 and later will use it to > find .pth, .py, .pyw, and .pyd files (as well as .pyc and .pyo > files). You may find changing your personal site-packages directory > (and/or a .pth therein that you manipulate) will address the issues > that you are planning to solve with virtualenv. > > Sorry for the long-winded answer. > --Scott David Daniels > scott.dani...@acm.org > > in addition to the common site-packages directory on -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list