Re: [Visualpython-users] Minor Windows installer fix

[Bruce S. <Bru...@nc...>]

I've tried to cover this issue by something similar to option 3, though 
the other way around (which you may find unacceptable). The following 
text has been prominently displayed at the top of the Windows download 
page for a year or more:

"Note to experienced users of IDLE: The VPython installer overwrites the 
Python file Lib\idlelib\config-main.def to add the Visual reference 
manual to the Help menu, and to make the defaults editor-on-startup= 1 
and autosave= 1, as these have proved to be appropriate for most new 
users of VPython. You may wish to edit the file to reset these 
parameters to zero, or use the Options menu to reconfigure these 
options, or save a copy of the file before installing VPython and 
restore it afterwards."

In many educational settings it is not the user who installs VPython, so 
it does no good for the installation procedure to write into the user's 
settings, and a version of option 3 where there is a ReadMe on how to 
choose our settings would mean that every user, every time, would have 
to find that ReadMe file and carry out its instructions. (I'm not sure 
whether putting a file .idlerc in "All Users" would do the job, and I 
should try the experiment, and see whether InnoSetup can handle that.)

For what it's worth concerning option 2 (not a lot, since he doesn't set 
policy for Python), the main developer of the current version of IDLE 
told me that he personally likes our settings, at least the auto-save 
feature. So it's not a question of convincing him.

Bruce

Arthur wrote:
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: vis...@li... [mailto:visualpython-
> 
> 
> 
>>Here's what happened. Python24\Lib\idlelib\config-main.def contains the
>>specs for how IDLE works, and these preferences are used if you don't
>>have one of your own. I made a mistake in generating the Python 2.4
>>VPython for Windows in not setting these general preferences to the ones
>>novice users of VPython expect (start up edit window; autosave on run).
>>The second bug I fixed is that uninstall should not remove this file.
>>
>>In your Documents and Settings\Your Name\.idlerc is a personal file that
>>overrides, so that depending on past history you might or might not get
>>the behavior you expect.
> 
> 
> I haven't understood this decision. Nor find it supportable. 
> 
> IMO, config-main.def should be considered to be untouchable by an
> installation program.  It is a library file that represents the defaults
> chosen by the author of Idle. Idle is designed to allow these defaults to be
> overridden by specific mechanisms built-in to Idle and its users interface.
> Protocol, it seems to me, is to respect - if not the author's sense of "what
> a novice user expects" - than at least his/her mechanism for overriding it. 
> 
> The proper options seem to be to be (in no particular order):
> 
> 1) Have the Vpython installation create or overwrite (with warning) the
> .idlerc file in the appropriate location. 
> 
> 2) Convince the author of Idle to change the defaults in the official
> distribution to the one's you seem to think  "novice users of VPython
> expect".
> 
> 3) Include a Readme of some sort with VPython which instructs folks on the
> very simple and straightforward mechanism for changing the start-up defaults
> provided through the user interface.
> 
> I find no way to include the current VPython distribution decision -
> overwriting a library file - on a list of proper options.
> 
> I think the Windows distribution has in fact made great strides both
> technically, and in its handling of its responsibility to "play nice with
> others".  This is my last bone of contention with it.  
> 
> It's a small enough point, but to me represents an important principal of
> cooperation. So I happen to get a bit heated on the issue.
> 
> Do you see me as missing something here? 
> 
> Please do correct me if you see the basis to do so.
> 
> Art
> 
>