On 3/28/06, Mark Mc Mahon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Emlyn, > > On 3/28/06, Emlyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello, > > This maybe better suited to the Distutils-SIG, but for now I'll try it here. > > I'm just wondering if anybody on this list has ever used the msilib > > functions > > used to build the Python installer to build an MSI installer for their own > > Python application. Sort of like distutils but to install scripts into a > > user > > specified folder as well as modules into .../site-packages. > > It looks like I could hack the msi.py script used to build the Python > > installation but I wondered if anybody could point me towards a hello world > > type example, I'm not really up to speed on the finer details of MSI. > > Google'n around it looks like I will have to install the extension modules > > using distutils and then my application using some other method. I'd like to > > install the whole lot (including dependencies if necessary; Stuff like > > fpconst) using MSI. > > If I'm being silly/missing something shouts will be gratefully heard. > > So let me see if I understand... > You have a bunch of files (.py, .pyd) etc. > > Do they need to go into different directories (e.g. > windows/python\lib\site-packages) or you can put them all under one > directory? > - If you are putting everything under one directory then I guess it > shouldn't be THAT difficult (though MSI is reasonably complicated!) > > If you are putting files under various directories - then it becomes > more complicated - but still possible. > > My suggestion would be to use distutils first to collect everything > into one usable/clean structure - then build the MSI out of that. > > I have worked quite a bit with MSI - but never created my own from > Scratch - some people use WIX (which I think was open sourced from > Microsoft themselves). > > > Cheers, > > Emlyn. > > P.S. py2exe et. al. are not an option because it's a web application. > > I hope that was of some use, > Mark > Hello, thanks for the reply. Yes, that's useful. I have a bunch of py and pyd files as you say; some get installed as Python modules (in site-packages) some get installed elsewhere (in a user specified folder). I wasn't aware of WIX, a quick look through the tutorial suggests it is what I'm looking for. I was just thinking that if Python had the were with-all (let's face it, when doesn't Python have the were with-all), it might be a less steep learning curve. I guess my next decision is whether to re package the existing extension modules (fpconst and the PyWebSvc stuff) and install them as components or to find a way of getting msi to call `python setup.py install`. Either way, I think your suggestion of grouping them all in a single distutils package first is the way to go. At least I know I'm heading in roughly the right direction. One more question though, if that's ok. I can test for Python by checking for the registry entries but what's the best way to check that the win32 stuff. Is it just a case of looking for the folders under site-packages? I guess a little Python script that attempts to import stuff and returns an error code may be another way.
Cheers, Emlyn. _______________________________________________ Python-win32 mailing list Python-win32@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-win32
