Re: [Visualpython-users] History and Status?

[Arthur <ajs...@op...>]

> Consider for the moment the case of a complete turnkey bundle for
newcomers
> (ideally, a single installer for Python, Numeric, Visual and its docs and
> demos, idlefork until it gets into the regular Python distribution, and
less
> ideally two or three installers). A rather important piece of this is
> something that I don't see how to do with distutils, which is to provide a
> desktop shortcut (alias) to the editing environment (idlefork). This
> shortcut is created by the current VPython installer on Windows, which
also
> puts an entry on the Python section of the Start menu.

> Any ideas on how to address that in the distutils scheme of things?

distulis has the ability to trigger a post-install script, which can do
that.  I've seen it done in at least one distribution and we can pigeon - I
mean learn from ;) - that  distribution  precisely how it is achieved.
>
> A related question is whether there is a way in distutils to refer
> symbolically to the directory where Python is found (normally C:\PythonXX,
> but a user can install it anywhere). That would be a piece of constructing
a
> shortcut (alias). I even tried including a shortcut that could be dragged
> from site-packages\visual onto the desktop, but alas a shortcut must have
> absolute file references.

Not sure what you are asking here.  The installer does not assume any
particular location for Python.  I am not sure whether it searches the
directory tree, or refers to the windows registy entry - but it finds the
installation, and does not assume it is an any particular place.  But I am
not sure that addresses your question.

> It isn't absolutely necessary to find a distutils solution to this,
because
> there is really only one situation where this comes up, a novice-oriented
> bundled binary installer for Windows, and I can continue building such a
> thing using other tools, letting distutils handle all other situations
> (presumably in source form). I would however change the installation
> locations to those that Arthur and others have championed -- everything in
> site-packages\visual (visual, docs, demos, idlefork).
>
> Incidentally, I very hastily tried using the distutils installer on Mac
OSX
> in the X11 framework and was told, "gcc: cannot specify -o with -c or -S
and
> multiple compilations". I'm guessing this has to do with the
> "extra_compile_args" at the start of setup.py, which look like they're set
> for Windows?

The extra_compile_args are definitely Windows specific. Just so that people
understand, I'm clueless what they mean.  I simply mechanically followed
what was being done in the VC project files included with the source distro.

Or else it was I who actually wrote VC6.

I forget which. ;)

Art